Return to Pegasus
by Feowyn
Summary: The continuing story of Atlantis after the battle over Earth. Warning: Slash, swearing and an OC thrown in to annoy McKay. First fanfiction, hence the terrible summary.
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer_: I own nothing, sadly.

_Author's Note_: Firstly, I'm sure my timing is off on this story, but I was working from my memory of when the show ended here. Secondly, this story contains swearing and references to m/m relationships, but nothing graphic for the moment. However, if that's not your thing, back away now. And this is the first thing I've ever posted, so if you feel the need to review, please be kind.

_Pairings_: Sheppard/Lorne

Prologue

**Atlantis, San Francisco Bay. June 2009**

John Sheppard moved through the halls of Atlantis with a purposeful stride. He wasn't aware that people were dodging out of his path because of the expression on his face, he was too furious to care at that point. The last week had been a disaster and it was beginning to get to him. Granted, they'd averted a Wraith attack on Earth, and that was fantastic of course. But they'd ended up with Atlantis sitting in San Francisco Bay with enough power to keep the cloak up but damage to the propulsion systems leaving them no way to get back to Pegasus. To make matters worse, the IOA and Richard Woolsey weren't sure they wanted Atlantis back in Pegasus. It was fucking infuriating! Did they honestly believe that they could just forget about the people in the other galaxy? The Athosians and the Coalition and all the other people they'd met over the last five years and just abandon them to the remaining Wraith? Sheppard walked into the office he shared with Lorne and punched the wall in frustration. He wasn't usually given to fits of temper, as he'd once told Ronon, he was naturally lazy, but he couldn't help it.

"I take it that the meeting with the IOA didn't go well?" a dry voice asked and he turned around with a wince. He really should have checked that the room was actually empty before he started trying to knock holes in the wall. But Lorne was just staring at him in concern, and some of the anger dissipated from Sheppard as he met those brilliant blue eyes. He sighed and dropped into the chair on the other side of the desk. He would never admit it, but he knew he would feel better after talking to his XO.

"I thought I almost had them convinced, then Woolsey started taking about how dangerous it was in Pegasus, and that it would be much more prudent to concentrate on developing the necessary power to keep Atlantis hidden, rather than trying to get the city fixed and back to where it belongs," Sheppard groaned, "I'm not cut out for this stuff Lorne."

"Everyone here believes you'll get us back where we belong Colonel," Lorne assured him with a faint smile, "That's why we're all still here."

Sheppard could feel the tips of his ears getting warm. He knew that the younger man's comment was perfectly innocent, but he couldn't help the feelings it caused in him. The embarrassment that the people in Atlantis put so much faith in him when he couldn't imagine why he deserved it. He just did these things because, well, he wasn't about to order anyone to go on a suicide mission and who else was going to offer?

Lorne watched as his CO shifted a little awkwardly in his seat and blushed. Most people wouldn't have noticed the slight colouring of Sheppard's ears, but he'd been watching John Sheppard for years and he'd learnt to pick up on these subtle signs. He knew that Sheppard didn't like to hear how much the people in the city idolised him, but he couldn't sit and watch him give up. They had to get the city back where it belonged, and that wasn't San Francisco Bay. They didn't have long. They'd only been back a week and already some of the personnel were getting pressure to accept new postings. Lorne had been called by General Landry three times to accept an SG team of his own at the mountain. He'd refused, he didn't care what Landry thought, the last place in two galaxies he wanted to be was 'away from Sheppard's corrupting influence'.

"So when's the next meeting?" he asked, trying to derail his thoughts before they had a chance to gain momentum.

"Beginning of next week," Sheppard sighed in reply rubbing his eyes tiredly, then looked up at the man sitting across from him, "What are you even doing here Lorne? Shouldn't you be taking advantage of being back on Earth like every other member of the expedition?"

"I visited my family when we first got here," Lorne shrugged, "But apart from that I don't really see why I'd need the time off. We can't use our 'gate, so there are no missions to schedule, or go on, or any need to be ready to rescue your team at a moment's notice. There's next to no paperwork to do except reports on how the repairs _aren't_ progressing. This practically is a holiday."

He wasn't telling the whole truth though. He was worried that they might not be able to convince the IOA to let them take the city home. And if that happened, Lorne wasn't sure what his future might be. He wanted to spend as much time in the city as he could in case they were forced to leave. Not that he would have left as long as Sheppard was still there anyway. John Sheppard and the city of Atlantis were almost symbiotically linked; one just didn't seem quite complete without the other. They were certainly irrevocably joined in Lorne's mind.

"Is there a treatment program for workaholics?" Sheppard enquired with a faint smile.

"Maybe we should start a support group," Lorne joked, "Since Stackhouse and Chuck are still here, and a few of the others, I think we have enough people."

"How about we just grab some beers and go watch a movie?" Sheppard suggested, "I managed to pick up a few new ones."

"I suppose…" Lorne said hesitantly.

"Come on Evan, you said yourself there's no reason at all for you to work late. Let's go have some fun," Sheppard was practically pouting and Lorne couldn't refuse. They stood and he followed Sheppard out of the office, trying to force down the wash of inappropriate thoughts and feelings. Sheppard's choice of words had conjured images in Lorne's mind that made him want to groan with frustration. He highly doubted that Sheppard was thinking along the same lines though, and matters were never helped by the warm, fuzzy feeling he got on the rare occasions that Sheppard called him by his first name. He wanted to shake himself, or maybe find out where Ronan had gone so he could have someone knock some sense into him.

He'd been over this a thousand times before in his mind. He didn't fall for straight guys; it never ended well, especially when it was someone he worked with. The military had very strict rules about that sort of relationship, so his career was on the line as well as his heart. Which was likely to be crushed by him falling for someone he couldn't have. So when he met John Sheppard, of course it had registered how incredibly attractive the guy was, but then ten minutes after he set foot in the city he heard about the man's reputation: The Pegasus galaxy's answer to Captain Kirk. There was ample evidence to speak for where Sheppard's interest lay, so Lorne had firmly and in no uncertain terms told himself that it was pointless to even think about the man in a sexual way.

That had lasted exactly three days. The fact was it was impossible to look at Sheppard without thinking about sex. That this opinion was shared by a large percentage of the female population of the city didn't really make Lorne feel that much better. But he'd dealt with it. He'd reminded himself that just because he found the man physically attractive didn't mean that it went beyond that. That had managed to last a whole month. Until the incident with the Genii. Because the minute Sheppard walked into his sight and said his name, Lorne's heart rate had doubled and he felt elated, even though they were still locked in a cell. And it had nothing to do with the hope of being rescued. He'd recognised the feeling of butterflies in his stomach at the sight of Sheppard and he knew then he'd already fallen. Hard.

So he kept a careful watch on everything he did when he was around Sheppard, because they managed to develop the beginnings of a strong friendship along with their working relationship and Lorne wasn't about to jeopardise that by revealing his less than professional feelings for the other man.

They wandered through the corridors of the Ancient city together and Sheppard just knew that they were both taking in how deserted it was. He couldn't be sure but it seemed that the lights were dimmer. He knew it had nothing to do with the lack of power, Atlantis was probably sulking because everyone had left. If anyone had told him five years ago that he would think it perfectly normal for a city to have a personality, he would have laughed until he was sick. But the fact was, he knew the city had an intelligence, an awareness to it. He didn't care what Rodney tried to say about 'complex computer programming with elements of artificial intelligence', the city was alive. At least in his mind.

He was sure it had opinions about people; there was simply no other way that Kavanaugh could encounter so many 'random malfunctions' on a daily basis. He couldn't be the only one that realised this, he mused as they stepped into a transporter. Everyone who had the Ancient gene could hear the buzz of the city, after all, though it had taken them a while to figure it out. He glanced over at Lorne. He had the strongest natural expression of the ATA gene after Sheppard, if anyone had picked up on the oddity of the Ancient city it would be him.

But at the last moment he bit his tongue to stop the question escaping. He didn't want to risk seeing Lorne look at his as if he'd lost his mind. Not that he would be the first person to think it, but there was a whole world of difference between the looks you received for casually throwing yourself into yet another situation where you would be uncomfortably close to a nuclear explosion, and the ones you got from saying 'So, do you ever get the feeling that the city's alive?'.

He didn't think that Lorne would really call the people in the white coats if he asked about his opinions on Atlantis' self-awareness. Lorne covered for him a lot, even if it was mostly in the form of rescuing his team on a semi-regular basis, and saving him from the evils of paperwork much more frequently. But he didn't like to think of seeing doubt and fear directed at him in his XO's eyes. He was sure that would be one blow too many, especially after this week.

**The Air Force Building, Washington DC**

"Jack!" Daniel Jackson huffed as he followed his best friend towards his office. The archaeologist wanted to yell in frustration. Sometimes he was sure he'd spent the better part of the last 13 years saying 'Jack' in that same exasperated tone.

"What do you want me to do Daniel?" Jack O'Neill asked over his shoulder as he strode past his assistant's desk, completely ignoring her attempts to hand him his messages. Daniel gave her an apologetic smile and accepted the papers before he stepped into Jack's office and closed the door.

"I want you to talk to the IOA," he exclaimed as soon as they were safely ensconced in the room, "I thought that would be obvious! You can't honestly agree with them!"

"I don't really have much say in the matter Daniel," Jack said, his tone clearly indicating that he was losing patience with the conversation, "You know that Homeworld Security is mainly concerned with the SGC and the X304 projects."

"And covering up the existence of the Stargate Program, so it doesn't create wide-spread panic," Daniel said absently, "At least until such time as everyone involved agrees on disclosure."

"Right," Jack agreed, and for a moment Daniel almost felt sorry for him. He knew that realistically there was no way that Jack could still be running a SG team, but something wasn't quite the same with his friend since he'd started 'flying a desk' for a living. He'd almost seemed happier when they were getting shot at every day. He pushed that thought away and returned to the more pressing matter.

"So how are you going to accomplish that?" he asked in his most reasonable tone, "Keeping the Stargate a secret, I mean, when the power reserves fail and the whole world is treated to a perfect view of the Lost City floating in the middle of San Francisco Bay?"

Jack just stared at him incredulously. Daniel resisted the urge to shake the man only thanks to years of practice. He didn't believe for a single second that Jack hadn't considered that happening. Despite what he liked people to believe, he was very intelligent. And Daniel really doubted that Sam wouldn't have voiced the possibility while she was arguing the case. But it would appear that even after all this time, Jack could still underestimate him. Daniel could admit to himself that it stung.

"Come on Jack," he sighed, "Sam told me that the decision has already been made about the Wraith. They know where Earth is now so there's no chance of just leaving them to their own devices and hoping they stay in Pegasus. She said that once the repairs are completed to the _Sun Tzu_ that the _Daedalus_ and the _General Hammond_ will be sent back to deal with the Wraith. You can't honestly expect that they'll be able to accomplish anything without a base in that galaxy."

"When did you become an expert on military tactics?" Jack wanted to know. "Maybe I picked something up over the years," Daniel replied, hoping that he only sounded snide to his own ears.

"I agree with you Daniel," Jack sighed, "And Sam…"

"Do you have much choice?" Daniel interrupted with a grin, "She'd have you sleeping on the couch if you didn't agree with her."

"Funny," Jack said, clearly unamused, "But you're right. Atlantis needs to go back to Pegasus, it's too big a security risk to leave it where it is. And it makes more sense from a strategic point of view. But I don't know that I have that much sway over the IOA."

"But you do have the ear of some people that might," Daniel pointed out hesitantly.

"Why did I ever think it was a good idea to be your friend?" Jack groused, but there was no real heat in his voice.

"I think I spent the first three years of our friendship wondering the same thing," Daniel mused.

**Atlantis, San Francisco Bay. July 2009**

The city had been languishing in the Bay by the Golden Gate Bridge for the better part of a month, but the mood of the people who live there had improved dramatically. The news that General O'Neill had presented an argument for Atlantis returning home to the Joint-Chiefs and the President had spread like wildfire. The most shocking part of all was that the rumour was- unlike most of the gossip that floated around the Ancient city- completely accurate.

Sheppard's mood was greatly improved simply by the virtue of him not having to argue his case in front of the IOA anymore. With General O'Neill and Teyla in charge of that task, he felt he would probably only hinder matters. After all, he wasn't particularly patient or eloquent, and one of his outbursts was likely to do more harm than good. So instead he spent most of his time with Lorne, keeping an eye on the repairs to the city's hyperdrive, making sure McKay and Carter didn't kill each other, and turning a blind eye to the extensive smuggling ring that seemed to be run by a group of Marines, under the supervision of the Head of Security and the Senior Control Room Technician. Apparently they were not only confident that they would be returning to Pegasus, but determined to be fully prepared when they did. Truthfully, Sheppard didn't want to know what was in half of the boxes that made their way into the city.

He stepped out of his office, intending to go down to the mess hall. A glance over to the control room showed that Stackhouse and Chuck had their heads together again, no doubt planning something he was better off not knowing about. With a faint smile he set off down the steps. He'd barely left the 'gate room when Carter called him over the radio, asking for him to join her and McKay in the Chair room. He acknowledged the Colonel with a sigh and stepped into the transporter. As he stepped back out in a completely different section of the city, he had to wonder what had possessed the Ancients to put the Control Chair so far away from the main tower.

"Sheppard, nice of you to join us, finally," McKay drawled as he walked into the room. Sheppard rolled his eyes and stepped over to the Chair platform.

"Colonel Carter called me all of a minute ago Rodney," he sighed, "I didn't realise that it was emergency."

"It isn't Colonel," Sam Carter assured him brightly, straightening up from behind the Chair, "McKay's just being his usual charming and impatient self."

"So what can I do for you?" Sheppard asked. He had a lot of respect for Colonel Carter. He hadn't minded at all when she'd been given command of the city after what happened to Elizabeth. He remembered her telling him that he'd been considered for the job, but he wouldn't have wanted it. He still didn't. He wasn't ready to give up going through the 'gate just yet.

"We need you to sit in the Chair and see if you can get the hyperdrive systems on line," Carter said.

"No luck with the wormhole drive?" Sheppard asked as he lowered himself into the Chair.

"Not a chance," McKay shook his head, "We barely managed to cobble the thing together in the first place, we're going to have to go back the old fashioned way."

"Old fashioned," Sheppard snorted as he leant back in the Chair, closing his eyes as the awareness of the city flooded into him. Thousands of interconnecting points of data streamed into him through the neural interface, opening the city to him like an extension of his own body. He knew that not everyone had the strength of the gene required to see in such detail, or to withstand the overwhelming influx of information that Atlantis offered them, but he had practice as well as natural aptitude. It only took him moments to sort through everything and find the hyperdrive systems. He brought them to life with a single command, and concentrated on the information the city was sending him. He knew that Rodney and Carter would be running diagnostics on the systems, but maybe Atlantis would tell him something useful straight out and save them some time.

"There's a problem with the flight stabilisation thrusters on the east pier," he said absently.

"That whole fucking area has been nothing but trouble since we set foot in this city," Rodney spat, "And of course Carson had to pick that pier to bust up fighting that Hive ship."

"I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose Rodney," Carter said with exaggerated patience.

"I'm not," McKay growled.

"Why don't you take Zelenka to work on the stabilisers, and I'll carry on with the diagnostic?" Carter suggested. Sheppard still had his eyes closed, focusing on the flood of information from the control interface, but he could hear the sound of McKay stomping around and his complaining getting fainter as he walked away. Five years of friendship and there was still a fine line between the annoying McKay and the amusing one.

It was hours before Sheppard was able to get away from the Control Chair and finally get to the mess hall. Most of the staff had gone already so he had to rummage through the kitchen himself for something to eat. Apparently the round-the-clock staffing had only been necessary when the city was overrun with scientists who had no concept of normal working hours.

He managed to find the tray of leftovers from dinner and helped himself, making a pot of coffee while he waited for his food to reheat. He was drinking his first cup and wondering about the wisdom of imbibing caffeine when it was already so late, when he heard movement behind him. He glanced over at the door to find Lorne standing there regarding him with a faintly sheepish expression.

"Evan," he greeted him brightly, "I didn't expect to see anyone else here, what are you doing?"

"I ah, only just got back from a meeting with Landry at the SGC and I was hoping to get something to eat," Lorne shrugged.

"There's meatloaf in the fridge," Sheppard informed him, ignoring the sinking feeling in his stomach. Landry had practically forced Lorne on him as XO at the beginning of their second year in the city. Sheppard had been resistant, he hadn't wanted to replace Ford when he'd been so sure they would find him and bring him home. He thought Landry was giving him the SGC's perfect poster-boy officer in an attempt to keep a rein on him.

But it hadn't worked out like that. It had taken a while, but they had become friends and if he was honest with himself, Sheppard knew he couldn't do his job without Lorne. And now Landry was trying to get Lorne back to the SGC, away from the bad influence that was John Sheppard. He knew Landry didn't like him. He also knew that what the General was offering Lorne had to be pretty tempting. Lorne would probably tell him that he was going to accept a team at the SGC and Sheppard couldn't do a thing about it. He couldn't ask him not to go on the chance that they might get the city back where it belonged, but damn it, he didn't want Lorne to go. He needed him.

They collected their meals in silence and claimed a table by the window, looking out at the bridge as they sat in the darkened mess hall. The water outside was inky, throwing flashes of yellow and orange light up as the rippling waves reflected the artificial lights of the city. The dark clouds rolling overhead fit John's mood perfectly.

"I refused," Lorne said suddenly.

"What?" Sheppard asked, startled by the unexpected voice in the silence.

"Landry's offer, of a team at the SGC," Lorne clarified, twirling his fork absently against his plate, "I think he thought that asking me in person would make me change my mind. But I refused. Told him I already have a job."

"Such as it is," Sheppard said ruefully, looking around.

"I doubt we'll be here much longer," Lorne smiled, "Teal'c told me that 'Colonel Carter sounded very confident when she informed him that she believed Atlantis would be returning to Pegasus as soon as repairs are completed'. Any progress on that?"

"Just the stabilisation thrusters on the east pier to fix," Sheppard said, his mood brightened slightly both by the news that his XO wanted to stay in the city, and by his impression of the Jaffa, "McKay says a few hours, Zelenka said a week."

"I'll take the first estimate," Lorne sighed wistfully.

"You really that keen to get back to Pegasus Evan?" Sheppard asked in surprise.

"I guess I am," Lorne shrugged. He sounded slightly surprised by the idea himself.

"What? Nothing to keep you here on Earth?" Sheppard couldn't help asking.

"I'd say the fact I've hardly left the city since we landed here says a lot," Lorne replied with a wry twist of his lips.

"I noticed that," Sheppard said dryly, "No old friends to visit? Movies to go and watch? Dates?"

Lorne looked sombre and shook his head to every suggestion, and Sheppard couldn't quite decipher the strange mass of emotions that raised in him. Emotions weren't his strongest suit. There was sympathy, for the fact that Lorne really didn't seem to have much of a life outside of Atlantis, but it was also comforting. After all, he'd noticed that Lorne hardly left the city because he himself spent so much time there. But that really didn't bother him that much. Most of his old friends were dead or otherwise not speaking to him, and the closest thing he'd had to a date in the last six months was the evenings he spent with Lorne. It was that, or being held hostage by Larin, and if he was honest with himself, the evenings with Lorne were far more enjoyable. They certainly involved less physical injury.

"You want a beer when we're done eating?" he asked, "Chuck managed to get me a recording of this week's football games?"

"Sounds like fun sir," Lorne said, smiling again.

"Lose the 'sir' when we're off the clock, call me John," he instructed, not even seeing the wide-eyed look his suggestion earned him.

Two days later Lorne was sitting in their shared office, staring at the report on the screen in front of him but not really seeing it. He was preoccupied with thinking about Sheppard and he was angry at himself for it. He'd worked with the man for four years and he'd never had as much trouble keeping his feelings at arm's length during work as he had over the last few weeks. He supposed it didn't help that there were no missions to go on to keep him distracted, and the usual mountain of paperwork he had to contend with was conspicuously absent since they came back to Earth.

The door hissed open and he looked up, startled. Sheppard was standing in the open doorway with a huge grin on his face that made Lorne's heart skip. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen the Colonel look that happy. He could feel a smile forming on his own lips, just from seeing Sheppard's, without even knowing what had caused it.

"Good news Lorne," the grinning man announced, "The IOA caved. They're letting us go home."

"Really?" Lorne demanded incredulously, suddenly understanding Sheppard's obvious elation.

"We just have to get everyone who's coming with us back to the city, load up on supplies, and we'll be heading back to Pegasus tomorrow night," Sheppard was grinning like a loon and Lorne had an overwhelming urge to hug him.

* * *

It was the middle of the night, and the city was bustling. Almost everyone who'd been stationed in the city had returned, and none of them had shown any sign of going to bed before the 'show' got started. Lorne was standing in the Chair room, watching as Sheppard ran through what passed for pre-flight checks. There were a few people standing around, including Zelenka and the airman who'd been assigned to keep an eye on John during his shift in the pilot's seat. Lorne had to wonder what the guy had done to earn himself the night shift in the Chair room their first day back. Sheppard was in the Chair because he was the best person to get Atlantis back in the sky. Lorne just wanted to watch.

He barely heard McKay's voice over the radio announcing that they were ready to go. Sheppard acknowledged the report and his face set in a determined expression. His fingers danced over the gel-like controls, making Lorne swallow hard before the Chair started its slow rotations, taking the tantalising sight out of his line of vision. The city started shaking as the star-drive powered up, and Lorne couldn't deny a surge of adrenaline ran through him in response. The thrusters powered up, raising clouds of steam from the Bay as the city started its slow journey upwards. The cloak was still functioning, but the darkness shielded the other evidence of the city's departure, though as Lorne had pointed out, it was hardly rare to see mist and fog over San Francisco Bay. Atlantis laboured up and away from Earth, for the second time in its existence. It was going home.

**Washington DC. August 2009**

Jadzia Davis strode away from the university campus with her infamous temper flaring. Only years of hard earned control had stopped her from punching somebody. Not that that would have done any good. She shifted her shoulders awkwardly in her smart jacket and reached back to tug her hair free of the braid that she'd spent a good twenty minutes fighting it into that morning. She hadn't even shook it out before her phone started playing '_War Machine_'. It took her a second to realise it was hers and she sighed in exasperation as she pulled it out of her pocket.

"Becker, you have to stop changing my ringtones," she admonished when she answered.

"Hello to you too Dax," said the amused voice on the other end of the call, "I was just calling to see how the interview went."

"How do you think it went?" she spat, then frowned as she twisted to check her watch, "What time is it wherever you are? Where are you anyway?"

"London," Becker replied, "It's been quiet at work the last few days."

"That's great Beck," she said, "But you're still what, five hours ahead of me? Did you really sit around and wait for me to get out of my interview?"

"I thought you might need a friend to rant at," he replied easily.

"Well you asked for it," she said, paying little attention to her surroundings as she walked and talked, "Should it really be this difficult for me to find a job? I mean, I had to look into teaching because apparently I'm over-qualified for a research assistant's job because I have 2 PhDs, but then I'm too young to even be considered for a teaching job in the UK so I have to apply at the American universities, of all places!"

"At least you got an interview," Becker pointed out.

"Yes, so I had to borrow money from you so I could come on this stupid trip," she pointed out, "And all they wanted was for me to walk in there so they could gawk at the freak with the 160 IQ. I should be used to this by now, shouldn't I?"

"It's been the same since you were shoved unceremoniously into a class full of people three years older than you and you made every one of us feel as dumb as posts," Becker laughed.

"What am I doing wrong?" she asked, as if her friend might have the answer.

"Did you introduce yourself as Dax, or did you manage to remember that you have a real name?" he wanted to know.

"I have a real name?" she asked in a mock puzzled tone. It was true that she used her nickname more than her actual name, to the point that there were some people who couldn't have told you her given name under the threat of torture.

"You're funny," Becker told her dryly, "Go find a bookshop Dax, that always cheers you up."

"That is an excellent idea," she said, "Thank you Beck. I'll see you when I get back?"

"If I can get away," he agreed.

"Bye Becker."

Daniel Jackson pulled a book from the shelf and studied the back cover, pondering if it was worth adding to his collection. He already had an armful, and it was all Jack's fault, since he'd asked Daniel to come to DC for a meeting and then put it back, leaving the archaeologist with time to kill. The book was returned to the shelf and he picked up another, glancing up as someone joined him on the otherwise empty floor.

It was a young woman, in her early twenties he guessed, wearing black pants and jacket over a blouse, though she didn't look comfortable. Her hair was red, and it reached just past her shoulders in a messy tangle, as if she'd just pulled it loose. She walked along the row of shelves, apparently unaware that there was anyone else in the room, her eyes focused on the books. Daniel turned his attention back to the shelves. He looked over several more, before adding one more to the stack he was already carrying and turning for the stairs. He was still looking down at the books when he started moving, and he walked straight into the young redhead. There was a clatter as books hit the floor and she cursed.

"Sorry," he apologised bending down for the fallen tomes.

"That's ok, I wasn't really focused on what was going on around me," she said sheepishly and he blinked in surprise. Her accent sounded British.

"I wasn't looking where I was going," he told her, frowning as he looked down at the book he just picked up, "_Ancient Celtic Practices_? I didn't…"

"That's mine," she laughed holding out a hand.

"Really? You need it for a class?" he asked in pleasant surprise.

"A little late for that actually, I finished my anthropology doctorate last year." she replied, "Just a personal interest."

"You're an anthropologist?" he raised an eyebrow in surprise, and she nodded.

"Among other things," she shifted her book into her left hand and offered him her right, "Jadzia Davis, but everyone calls me Dax."

"I'm Dr Daniel…"

"Jackson," Dax interrupted with a delighted smile, "I thought I recognised you, your picture was online. I referenced some of your work for my dissertation."

"Why?" Daniel asked with a frown of confusion.

"My lecturer was a stuffy, stuck up, pain in the arse. I thought maybe I could give him a heart attack and spare future generations," she replied glibly, making him chuckle slightly.

"Did it work?" he enquired.

"He retired," Dax shrugged, one corner of her mouth twitching upward and blue-green eyes sparkling.

"What brings you to the States?" he asked, straightening up now they'd collected the fallen books.

"I had an 'interview'," she said bitterly, "For all the good it did."

"What were you interviewing for?" he asked curiously.

"Teaching post," was the unenthusiastic reply, "Since no-one seems to want me for any research projects."

For some reason Daniel was interested to hear the rest of the story. Obviously his life had gotten boring since the Ori and the Goa'uld stopped trying to take over the galaxy. That was half of the reason he wanted to ask Jack to let him go to Atlantis. If he was going to sit behind a desk researching now, it may as well be in Pegasus. He was fully recovered from his last trip to Atlantis, and he could have easily rejoined SG-1, but it wasn't quite the same since Sam left the team, especially with Jack gone too.

"Would you like to get a cup of coffee?" he asked politely. The redhead looked surprised but she nodded and allowed him to steer her towards the cash register.

Once they paid for their purchases, Daniel guided the young woman towards the coffee shop that was just around the corner from the bookshop. There were only a few tables occupied, but Daniel directed them to the quietest section of the shop before sitting down at a table.

"So what do you want?" he asked.

"Caramel latte," she requested after glancing at the menu. He pursed his lips in surprise but nodded. He couldn't help staring when their drinks arrived and she emptied three packets of sugar into the already sickly-sweet beverage before she even tasted it. She looked up to see him watching and scowled.

"Ok, so I actually hate coffee," she admitted, "With a passion. But this makes it just about drinkable, unlike the tea you serve here. Why can't I get a decent cup of tea in this country?"

Daniel couldn't help the laugh escaping him. Though the accent was nothing like the cultured one Sarah had, the comment was so similar to something that she would say… The young woman was staring at him expectantly, waiting for an explanation.

"That just sounded so…" he paused, searching for something that wouldn't sound offensive.

"British?" she asked dryly, "I know, I'm a walking cliché."

"What did you mean earlier, when you said you were an anthropologist 'amongst other things'?" Daniel asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"I also have a doctorate in genetics and bio-chemistry," she said with a faint smile, until she took a sip of her coffee and winced, "I minored in zoology."

"How old are you?" he demanded, sure that she must be joking.

"24," she replied casually, "I went to university at 15."

"And no-one would give you a research job?" he asked incredulously.

"Apparently the 'diverse and disjointed' nature of my chosen subjects of study signifies a lack of focus," Dax said sarcastically, "Which is not a quality people look for in potential employees, even if they do have a MENSA membership."

"You're in MENSA?" he asked, wondering how many times he could be surprised in one conversation.

"Since I was 11," she confirmed as if it was nothing that impressive.

Daniel studied her through narrowed eyes for a minute. Fate wasn't something he believed in, though if he did, he would certainly have his suspicions about literally running into this woman. She was a little young, but she was very qualified and obviously intelligent. He frowned; he'd probably run out of favours with Jack…

"Daniel…" a familiar voice interrupted his musings with an expectant tone.

"Jack," he responded, smiling faintly as he looked up at the General, not even wondering how he'd found him.

"Making friends are ya?" Jack asked in that infuriating way of his.

"Yes, actually," he said with a trace of irritation, Jack could still be an ass at times, "This is Dr Jadzia Davis."

"Dax," the redhead corrected, offering Jack her hand easily.

"General Jack O'Neill," Jack introduced himself, shaking Dax's hand.

"Yeah, the uniform kinda gave me a clue," she grinned, unfazed.

"She's funny," Jack said mildly, looking at Daniel with a raised eyebrow. The archaeologist rolled his eyes and heaved a long-suffering sigh.

"Time to go Danny," Jack said.

"Right," he nodded, glancing apologetically at Dax.

"It was a pleasure to meet you Dr Jackson," she said, laughing humourlessly, "It almost makes this trip worthwhile."

"How much longer are you in DC?" he asked as he climbed to his feet.

"My flight leaves tomorrow evening," she replied in puzzlement.

"Do you have a résumé?" he asked, watching as she looked even more confused.

"Oh!" she exclaimed as enlightenment dawned, "You mean a CV! Sure, just a sec."

She dug through her bag and finally brandished a white envelope. She held it out to him, before frowning and pulling it back.

"Why do you want my CV?" she asked.

"I might know of a job for you," he said and her eyes widened as she handed it over, "Is your cell number on here? If I need to call you before you go back to the UK."

"Sure," she nodded, slightly dazed. He nodded and followed Jack out of the coffee shop.

"Daniel?" Jack asked expectantly as they walked towards the Air Force Building.

"Jack?" he responded.

"You want to fill me in?"

"On?"

"Your young friend back there," Jack nodded back towards the shop, "Isn't she a little…well, young for you?"

"Jack, don't be an ass," Daniel sighed heavily, "I was interested in her credentials, she's highly qualified. I think you might be able to find a job for her."

"You running a charity now Daniel?" Jack demanded in exasperation, "We have a very specific recruitment policy for the Program, we don't just offer jobs to anyone we meet on the street!"

"Actually I met her in the bookshop," Daniel told him mildly.

"Oh well, in that case, do whatever you want!" Jack exclaimed, throwing his hands up in frustration, "Did you not notice that there was a rather large problem with her potential for employment by us?"

"I know she looks a little young…" Daniel began.

"She's English Daniel!" Jack huffed, "Do you have any idea how much paperwork that would take?"

"Not that much for Atlantis," Daniel said quietly, glancing around to make sure no-one was listening to them. Jack paused, studying him with a narrow-eyed look that Daniel returned with his usual expectant innocence.

"We aren't meant to hire for the city for six months Daniel," Jack said after a minute's consideration, starting walking again, "They've only been back in Pegasus for a few weeks."

"But the _Daedalus_ leaves next week for a supply run," Daniel pointed out.

"Ah, I wondered what you wanted to talk to me about," Jack said, with a hint of triumph in his voice, as if he'd just solved one of the mysteries of the universe. Daniel shook his head as they climbed the steps to the building and passed through security.

"There's not much keeping me at the SGC anymore Jack," he said finally, once they had reached the privacy of the General's office, "SG-1's not the same anymore, and there's not much going on here that really needs me."

"You're missing the action Daniel?" Jack asked with a grin. Daniel refused to even dignify that with an answer.

"I've been authorised to go to Pegasus before Jack, but all of a sudden Landry's telling me you have to ok it," he glared at his friend.

"Last time you went there you nearly died," Jack snapped.

"Because that's never happened before," Daniel scoffed, seating himself in front of Jack's desk.

"Daniel…"

"Jack…"

"Fine! You want to disappear off to Atlantis for the next few months, fine!" Jack huffed in irritation, "But you can tell Sam yourself."

"Ok," Daniel nodded, "So about Dax…"

"Who names their daughter that?" Jack asked.

"She said it's a nickname," Daniel responded, pulling the envelope out of his pocket, "And you could at least look at her qualifications."

"Do you really think that she'll just sign up for a job that she knows nothing about, for a year long stint, off of a chance meeting in a coffee shop?" Jack wanted to know.

"She's applying for work in a foreign country because she can't get a job back home, seems to me that she doesn't have a problem moving away for an unspecified length of time," Daniel shrugged, not bothering too correct him again about where he met the redhead.

"She won't just drop everything and be ready to fly to another galaxy in 6 days," Jack objected.

"You could ask her," Daniel suggested, handing over the sheaf of paper he'd been studying.

"If it means that much to you," Jack sighed, looking over at him suspiciously, "You sure you weren't looking for a date, Danny-boy?"

"You can be really juvenile at times Jack," Daniel sighed.

About an hour and a half later, Daniel was waiting on the steps of the Air Force Building, scanning the street for a telltale flash of red hair. Dax had sounded surprised when he called her to come for an interview, but he couldn't work out if it was because she hadn't expected him to call, or because of where the interview was going to be. But then she probably hadn't been expecting to get a job interview from a chance meeting with a reputedly reclusive and half crazy archaeologist in a book shop.

He spotted her weaving through the throng of people on the street with a look of irritation on her face and a slight flush colouring her pale skin under the dusting of freckles. She looked different. She'd got rid of the clothes she'd worn to the interview before they met, in favour of a pair of grey jeans and a blue-grey shirt. Her hair was loose and had only a hint of a wave to it now, and she looked a lot more at ease. He glanced down at his watch, noting she was a little late as he stepped down to the street to meet her.

"I thought you'd changed your mind for a minute there," he said as she spotted him and closed the distance between them.

"Nothing like that," she assured him with a tight smile, "But I think people here take far too much pleasure in messing with tourists. The biggest lies ever told are 'It's easy' and 'You can't miss it'."

"You got lost?" he asked.

"I was misdirected," she corrected sharply, "Lost implies that you had some clue of how to get where you wanted to go in the first place."

"Right," he agreed, hiding a smirk as he gestured for her to precede him up the steps.

"So this rumour's true after all," Dax said in a thoughtful voice as they passed through security and into the building.

"What rumour?" Daniel asked.

"Well, I did some research when I referenced your work, most of it was over 10 years old, the rest was just rumours and conspiracy theories," Dax told him, "One of which was that you worked for the US military."

"I do seem to have attracted a few conspiracy theories," he admitted with a frown.

"It was that speech you gave on the pyramids that did it," Dax told him, "Conspiracy nuts just love alien cover-ups, no matter how far back they were supposed to have happened. So, what exactly does an archaeologist with some…interesting theories, do for the Air Force?"

"You'll need to sign a non-disclosure agreement before I can tell you that," Daniel smiled faintly. Jack was waiting for them when they reached the Homeworld Security office, and he greeted the redhead pleasantly, distracting her from the puzzled way she was studying the lettering on the door. They shook hands and stepped inside. Daniel followed them, closing the door behind him and claiming a seat on Jack's sofa.

"This isn't our usual procedure for hiring, but Daniel insisted that you were worth interviewing Dr Davis," Jack said sitting down behind his desk.

"Ah…I'm not a doctor," Dax said hesitantly as she took the chair opposite, "It's Jadzia, although honestly I prefer Dax. Everyone calls me Dax, sir."

"Not a doctor?" Jack raised an eyebrow and studied her over the piece of paper he'd been examining, "So you're lying about having PhDs?"

"Of course not!" Dax exclaimed indignantly, "It's just that, well, I only left university last year, and I'm not really used to being called 'doctor'. Calling a non-MD 'doctor' is a little weird for me."

"Jack, get to the point," Daniel sighed wearily, knowing that this could go on for days.

"The thing I can't quite get my head around, is what job I could possibly do for the US Air Force," Dax said, looking expectantly between them.

"Well it's only in a technical sense, you'd be listed as a civilian consultant," Daniel told her.

"Ok, so what's the job?" Dax asked.

"Top Secret," Jack said, "There are some non-disclosure forms you have to sign before we can tell you anything about it."

"Alright," Dax shrugged.

"But once you've signed you can't decide you're not interested," Daniel said apologetically, "If you sign you're committing to at least one year at the job before you know anything about it. But it's completely worth it."

"You're serious," she stated looking from one to the other slightly incredulously. They both nodded without a hint of a smile and after a moment Dax nodded slowly, considering. She was silent for a minute that stretched into eternity before she looked up at them.

"Where do I sign?" she asked brightly.


	2. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer_: I own nothing, sadly.

_Author's Note_: Firstly, I'm sure my timing is off on this story, but I was working from my memory of when the show ended here. Secondly, this story contains swearing and references to m/m relationships, but nothing terribly graphic for the moment. However, if that's not your thing, back away now. And this is the first thing I've ever posted, so if you feel the need to review, please be kind. Thanks to those who've added this to Alerts/Favourites or left a review, it's so nice to know that people think it's worth coming back to. I will be updating weekly due to limited internet access, so please bear with me. Until then, enjoy.

I should also mention that the previous chapter has been edited slightly, I'd accidentally uploaded an earlier version.

_Pairings_: Sheppard/Lorne

Chapter 1

**The _Daedalus_, High Earth Orbit. August 2009**

"Dr Jackson," Colonel Caldwell greeted him briskly as he stepped onto the bridge of the ship.

"Colonel," he nodded, looking around at the bustle of activity around them, "The ship's looking better."

"After what the battle with the Wraith did to it, it could hardly look worse," Caldwell growled, "Half the systems are still under repair, but we need to assess the situation in Pegasus as soon as possible and we're the best suited to do it."

"Sir, we have all the supplies from the SGC secured," Captain Kleinman reported.

"Apparently we have one more passenger to pick up," Caldwell said, glancing over at him, "Do you have the coordinates?"

"Yes sir," the Captain confirmed.

"Could you set me down and I'll collect our new scientist?" Daniel suggested, not wanting Dax to open her door to be confronted with unfamiliar military personnel. She appeared to take all the tests and such in her stride, but she'd had time to think it over since then. He wondered how long it had taken for her to think it was all a joke.

Caldwell nodded, and made a motion to one of the bridge crew. There was a bright flash of light and Daniel found himself standing outside an apartment block. The sun was warm after the controlled environment of the ship and he pulled the door open, hastily stepping inside. He climbed the three flights of stairs and took the door that lead to Dax's apartment.

She opened the door only moments after he knocked, grinning happily at him and stepping aside to let him in. A look around told him that the furniture was covered over with dust sheets and there were boxes lying around. On the floor beside the door were four storage boxes that looked military issue, and a duffle bag.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Sure," she nodded, glancing down at the boxes as she picked up her bag, "You got someone to help me with these?"

"That won't be necessary," he grinned at her, reaching out to lock the door. He registered the momentary flash of apprehension in her eyes before he reached for his radio.

"This is Dr Jackson, we're ready for transport," he said calmly. There was a flash and they were on board the _Daedalus_, standing in the transport room.

"Where are we?" Dax asked in a faint voice as she looked around wide-eyed.

"The US Air Force vessel _Daedalus_," Colonel Caldwell said, stepping into the room.

"Well that explains everything," Dax said sarcastically.

"Have the doctor's personal belongings taken to storage," Caldwell ordered the airman who was at the transporter controls. The young man nodded and moved to do as he was told.

"That's fine," Dax assured him, hefting her bag, "This is all I need."

"Dax, this is Colonel Caldwell, he's in command of the _Daedalus_," Daniel introduced them.

"Nice to meet you," the redhead nodded, looking around at their surroundings, "So do I get a tour?"

"We can probably manage that," Caldwell nodded, then turned slightly listening to his radio, "Very good. Get under way."

_-All hands: Prepare for hyperspace jump-_ announced a voice on the intercom system. There was a sudden lurch and Dax swore as she grabbed onto Daniel's arm.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Hyperspace," Caldwell said simply, "I'll show you to the quarters we assigned for you."

"So you guys have a spaceship," Dax said slowly as they followed Caldwell through the corridors, "Somehow you neglected to mention that Daniel."

"I didn't have time to tell you everything," he responded defensively.

"Obviously," she murmured, pausing briefly to stare out of a window at the flashing colours of them travelling through subspace.

Daniel was a little surprised that Caldwell actually did give Dax a tour of the ship. In fact, it looked like he got on quite well with the odd-humoured redhead. Daniel left them to it, taking one of his books to the mess hall in search of coffee. He'd missed his usual ten cups that morning with the loading of supplies onto the _Daedalus_. He was onto his second cup, with his nose firmly between the pages of his book when someone else walked into the room. He glanced up, pleasantly surprised to find Dr Keller smiling hesitantly at him.

"Hello Dr Jackson," she said.

"Dr Keller," he gestured for her to take a seat, "I didn't realise you were on Earth."

"My father wasn't well so I couldn't leave with the rest of Atlantis," the young doctor said sadly as she sat down.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Daniel said sympathetically.

"He's better now," Keller said, "It was just a good thing they didn't really need me to go back to Pegasus straight away. It's not as if Carson picked up his old life while the city was on Earth."

"Being dead can put a crimp in your plans like that," Daniel deadpanned. He'd long since got over any resentment he felt when people made jokes about the amount of times he'd died, it had become a running joke at the SGC years ago. But he could still remember the way they looked at Carson Beckett (the clone) when he appeared at the SGC to recover. Apparently, just because they were used to his miraculous resurrections didn't mean that they were so blasé when others did the same thing.

"So I've heard," Keller said dryly, looking around as Dax walked into the mess, "Is that our newest recruit?"

"What gave it away?" the redhead asked with a grin.

"You're not in uniform," Keller replied, making the other woman look down at her clothes.

"You totally overwhelmed yet?" Daniel asked as Dax sat down.

"Not yet," she beamed at him, "Which is good since I hear there's lots more for me to catch up on."

"Well, you'll have plenty of time," Keller assured her, "Since the IOA still can't decide what to do about fixing the 'gate bridge, it's an 18 day trip to Atlantis."

"I'm sure I'll be up to speed by then," Dax said confidently, "What department do you work for?"

"I'm Jennifer Keller, Chief Medical Officer," the doctor smiled as she shook Dax's hand.

"I'm Dax. So you're the one with the all the big needles I'll be doing my best to avoid," the redhead shuddered, "Good to know."

"Dax?" Keller repeated doubtfully.

"It's a nickname, almost everyone's called me Dax since I was 8 years old," Dax shrugged indifferently. Keller nodded in easy acceptance.

**Atlantis. August 2009**

"So, I hear we're getting a new scientist," John drawled as he leaned against the desk in McKay's lab. It hadn't taken long for everyone to settle back into the rhythm of life in Pegasus, though the Canadian scientist had been more irritable than usual since Keller had stayed behind on Earth.

"Hmmm," McKay muttered without looking up from his computer.

"_Daedalus_ is meant to arrive any minute," Sheppard added, "We're supposed to be up in the control room."

"To once again play welcoming committee to the esteemed Dr Jackson," McKay rolled his eyes, "I'm too busy to meet him and his new pet."

"Pet?" Sheppard frowned in confusion. Sometimes even he struggled to follow the way McKay's mind worked.

"The new scientist? The one that's too important to wait for the next recruiting cycle. The one that I wasn't even given an option to approve, even though I'm the Head of Science and Research! Dr Jackson recruited her into the program, that's why she has General O'Neill's personal backing," McKay threw up his hands angrily and began to pace.

"Ok," Sheppard said slowly, shaking his head at McKay's behaviour, "Are you too busy to go and meet your girlfriend too?"

McKay looked up at him sharply, and Sheppard bit his lip to stop himself smirking. Apparently in all his bitching about their newest arrival, McKay had forgotten that Keller was also arriving on the _Daedalus_.

"Well, I…"

"I don't know what you're so worried about with this new scientist anyway," Sheppard continued, absently studying one of the whiteboards next to the desk, wondering how long it would be before McKay worked out what he'd done wrong in the equation, "You hardly pay any attention to the people who work for you. You don't even know most of their names. You won't even notice one more."

"You're probably right," McKay huffed, "Now let me get back to work."

"Time to go," Sheppard disagreed, checking his watch, "We have to get up to the control room."

He grabbed the scientist by the jacket and hauled him off of his seat. McKay complained all the way, but allowed himself to be manhandled into the transporter and up to the control room. Woolsey was already standing at the foot of the steps in the 'gate room, and Sheppard couldn't contain the flare of anger he felt at the sight of the man. He couldn't believe that the IOA had reinstated him to his position of leader of Atlantis after everything that had happened while they were on Earth. Gritting his teeth he took up position next to Woolsey, trying his best to ignore him.

"How long do you think Jackson will be hanging around this time?" McKay muttered darkly as they waited.

"No idea," Sheppard shrugged indifferently, "Why?"

"Want to know how many potentially life-threatening situations I should expect to find myself in," McKay responded.

"If you wanted safe you should have stayed on Earth," Sheppard informed him a little smugly. He'd known there was no chance of McKay staying behind when the city returned to Pegasus.

There was a flash of light and a small group of people appeared in front of the Stargate. Sheppard recognised Daniel Jackson and Colonel Caldwell immediately, and his eyes fell on the young woman standing between them. She was quite short, around 5'2, with red hair and a pale complexion, with wide eyes that were framed by the faint dusting of freckles that arched over her nose and cheeks. She was sort of attractive, he supposed, even if she was a little stocky, and she seemed perfectly comfortable in the military uniform with a duffle bag on her shoulder. There was a look of wonder on her face as she looked around at her surroundings.

"Welcome back to Atlantis, Dr Jackson," Woolsey said with forced cheer as he stepped towards the new arrivals.

"Thank you Mr Woolsey," Daniel responded, "It's always a pleasure to be here."

"I hope you're not planning to get yourself kidnapped this time doc," Sheppard grinned as he stepped forward to shake Daniel's hand.

"Colonel Sheppard," Daniel offered him a warm smile, "I'm certainly hoping for an uneventful stay."

"I'm not sure we'll manage that," Sheppard shrugged, "But we'll try."

"Well, now that's over and done with and you've pulled me way from the dozen vital projects that required my attention," McKay rambled in an exasperated tone, "Maybe you can tell us what you're doing here? So I can finish being bored and get back to work."

"It's good to see you too Rodney," Daniel replied heavily, making Sheppard smile slightly, "And I'm not here for any particular purpose, just research."

"And her?" McKay nodded at the young woman.

"This is Dr Jadzia Davis," Daniel told them.

"I prefer Dax," she broke in with a wince, looking disapprovingly at the archaeologist.

"Colonel John Sheppard," he introduced himself with a grin, which Dax returned, blue-green eyes sparkling. He pointedly ignored Rodney's not so quiet mutter of 'Oh please' as Dax told him it was a pleasure to meet him. She had a nice voice.

"I'm Richard Woolsey, the leader of the Atlantis expedition," Woolsey stepped forward, and Dax glanced at him, smiling a little less warmly as she accepted the greeting. McKay was muttering darkly, and the redhead looked at him, raising an eyebrow in question and tilting her head to one side.

"So you're the one who's so special that they couldn't even wait for the next recruiting cycle to send you here," he said, looking her up and down with a slight sneer, "Without my approval."

"I guess so," Dax replied blandly, "I take it that offends you for some reason. Maybe because it proves that you're not as important as you think?"

There were several barely concealed snorts of laughter as McKay spluttered incoherently. Dax's lips were pursed to suppress a smile, but she couldn't do anything to halt the blush that was creeping into her cheeks. Obviously her pale complexion was a hindrance in situations like this, Sheppard thought as he smirked at his friend.

"Looks like she has you all figured out Rodney," he remarked.

"I have reviewed Dr Davis' file, Dr McKay, and I have to agree with the recommendation made by General O'Neill about her posting here," Woolsey said, earning him a venomous glare from McKay, "I'll have to leave you in the capable hands of Dr Jackson and Colonel Sheppard, Dr Davis, I have a mission briefing to attend if you'll excuse me."

"Huh," Dax murmured as Woolsey walked off, "He's not quite what I was expecting."

"What were you expecting?" Sheppard asked quietly, very aware that Caldwell might still be within earshot.

"Someone less…weasely," she suggested, looking up at him with a wicked grin, "Less like a lawyer."

"Let me see what quarters Lorne put you in and I'll show you around doc," Sheppard offered, since he didn't have much else to do except paperwork, which he would happily put off for as long as possible.

"Please, call me Dax," she insisted, "I'm still not used to this whole 'Dr Davis' thing."

"Hmph," McKay rolled his eyes.

"Don't mind him," Sheppard said, "If it was up to McKay he'd remind us every hour that he has a doctorate."

"Two actually," McKay corrected smugly.

"Oh," Dax remarked sounding not even remotely interested or impressed.

"What?" McKay demanded incredulously, "Why don't you sound impressed?"

"Dax has two as well," Daniel said casually, resulting in outraged spluttering from McKay as the young redhead shrugged casually. Sheppard couldn't stop himself laughing as he jogged up the 'gate room stairs to his office. McKay overreacted to the most inconsequential things sometimes. He couldn't believe that he could sound so outraged that someone so young had the same amount of doctorates as him. The scientist was still spluttering when Sheppard got back from checking Lorne's paperwork to find out where he'd assigned quarters for their newest arrival.

"Ok, let me show you to your quarters," he offered, clapping McKay on the shoulder as they walked passed. He held out a hand, offering to take her bag, but she regarded him strangely and shook her head. He shrugged and guided her along the corridor to the transporter.

"I don't remember the last time I saw McKay so worried over something that wasn't life threatening," he mused, "But then McKay's idea of life threatening is being in the same room as a lemon."

"Well, ego is a fragile thing, especially in geniuses," she smiled faintly.

"One of your PhDs wouldn't be in physics would it? Or something that overlaps with his specialties?" Sheppard asked as the doors to the transporter slid open, "Because I don't think I could cope with that. He might have a nervous breakdown, and we still don't have a permanent therapist."

"Nah, maths was never really my thing," Dax chuckled slightly, "Genetics and bio-chem, and anthropology with zoology."

"What job did you have in mind when you picked your courses?" he asked, staring at her in disbelief.

"I didn't really, I picked the subjects that appealed to me," Dax shrugged, then the corner of her mouth twitched in a slight smile, "Or maybe I was thinking of being a research scientist for a top secret military base in another galaxy."

"This is the southeast tower," he told her as they stepped out of the transporter, and they crossed the hall to a door, "And these are the quarters Lorne assigned you."

"Thank you sir," she smiled.

"Lose the 'sir'," Sheppard told her easily, "You're a civilian."

Dax nodded in response and stepped passed him into the room, looked around in surprise. It was bright, and there were Ancient patterns on the walls. Her boxes were stacked up next to the desk, in front of the half wall that concealed the bed from the door.

"Wow, this isn't what I was expecting at all," Dax said dropping her bag on the floor, "It's bigger than the room I had in the house I shared at uni."

"This is the nicest base I've ever served on," Sheppard agreed.

"I was also expecting a cot," she added as she wandered around, noticing the fact she had a double bed.

"Most of the quarters have real beds now," he told her. That had been accomplished while the city was on Earth, although he had to admit that his own quarters still had the same military cot. It hadn't seemed important to change it at the time, given that he'd been focused on getting the city back to Pegasus.

"I suppose I should let you settle in," he said, jerking himself out of his musings, "The days here are longer than on Earth, it takes some getting used to. The mess will start serving dinner in a few hours. You'll get the full tour and training tomorrow. My XO handles that stuff but he's off-world until 2100 hours."

"How do I get to the mess?" she asked pointedly.

"I can come by and pick you up, make sure you don't get lost," Sheppard offered after some consideration. He'd gotten used to eating with company after all, and when exactly had that happened? He used to be far more solitary.

"That would be great, thank you," the young woman smiled brightly, "I, um, I should probably unpack."

"I'll leave you to it," Sheppard said hastily. He turned and left, and he could have sworn he felt her eyes following him as the door closed. He shook his head as he walked away.

He wandered back to the control room and into his office. He'd been avoiding his paperwork all day, though Evan had assured him there was very little that he really needed to do. Just looking at it had the tendency to sap him of his will to live. He sighed heavily and dropped into his chair, groaning slightly as he pulled the forms towards him that needed his attention. He stared at them blankly for several minutes as if they were going to complete themselves, then shook his head in annoyance.

He knew he had trouble focusing on his paperwork, sometimes Lorne had to tell him three times before he actually got around to signing his name. The office felt very empty and quiet without his XO, he realised. He was as much a permanent fixture in the office as the desk, and Sheppard knew he should feel worse about that than he did. Irritably he started the music player on his laptop, letting Johnny Cash drown out the silence and the wandering of his thoughts. Resolutely he dug through the drawer of his desk and pulled out a pen.

He had no idea how long he sat working through forms, most of which he had no idea what they were even for. Eventually he realised he'd been staring at the same piece of paper for twenty minutes and humming mindlessly along to the music and he decided to call it a day. He could always go back to it after he'd eaten. And had coffee. Coffee sounded like a good idea. He cracked his neck as he stood up; paperwork was easier to deal with when Lorne was around to torment anyway.

When he rang the chime on Dax's door it opened almost immediately. She wordlessly stepped aside to let him in and he glanced around the room. The now empty storage boxes were stacked under the desk, which held a laptop and several stacks of books, two DVD wallets and what looked like photo albums. An iPod dock was on the small table next to the bed, though it was conspicuously silent. The most unusual things in the room were the ornamental weapons. Or at least he assumed they were decorative. He gave her a questioning look.

"I've been collecting for a few years," Dax explained, "Started when my grandfather left me the family sword in his will. It's over 200 years old."

Sheppard nodded but couldn't really think of anything to say. He'd never heard of anything like that, a sword as a family heirloom? But then she was British, and everyone knew they were a little odd. All in all, the room was not what he'd been expecting. It was practically Spartan, but Dax didn't look like she was really pining for anything.

"I take it it's time to eat?" she asked, shrugging back into her uniform jacket.

"I was going to head down to the mess," he confirmed, "Before the paperwork in my office drove me to shoot myself."

"If it's that bad then now is definitely the time for a distraction," she said solemnly, and it took him a second to work out that she was joking. He turned and waved the door open, wondering if associating with this new scientist was really one of his better ideas. Normally he had very little to do with the new personnel, especially the scientists. They were shown around in groups and given their assignments and they fitted in (or didn't) on their own over their first few weeks.

But Dax was on her own, unless you counted Dr Jackson. But the archaeologist wasn't known for being the most social of people. In fact, Sheppard mused, he was a good candidate for that workaholics anonymous group Lorne had jokingly suggested. And he wasn't staying in the city permanently, so it only made sense for Dax to be introduced to the rest of the personnel, and she was only one person…

It took him a second to realise that they were standing outside the locked door of the redhead's quarters, and she was watching him expectantly. He blinked and strode across the hall to the transporter. He really needed to work out why he kept getting so lost in his train of thought. If he did this during a critical moment on a mission the results could be disastrous. He punched the control to take them to the mess hall with a little more force than was necessary, but the young scientist didn't appear to notice.

There was an almost resigned look on Dax's face as they stepped into the mess that he couldn't understand, until she looked over at the serving line and her expression brightened.

"Real food," she said, almost wistfully.

"It's food," Sheppard said noncommittally.

"After two and a half weeks of the stuff they served on the _Daedalus_ anything that doesn't come out of packet with 'MRE' stamped on it is good enough for me," Dax grinned.

"We'll see if you still think that after you've tasted it," Sheppard said, "A lot of our food comes from off-world, so it won't taste like anything you're used to."

"It tasting like anything at all would be an improvement," Dax remarked as they joined the serving line. Sheppard hardly glanced at what was on the plate he was handed, before he headed for the table he normally shared with his team. It was empty, but he hadn't expected anything different. The last time he'd had a meal with his team was four days ago before they went on a mission. He sat down with a sigh.

"Don't you have anything better to do than keep me company?" Dax asked with a faint self-deprecating smile.

"Like paperwork you mean?" he asked with a frown.

"I meant, ah, surely you don't normally eat alone," she looked down at her plate, but he caught the faint hint of colour on her cheeks.

"I used to eat with my team, but they usually have other plans now," he shrugged, unnerved by how close her question hit to what he'd just been thinking about, "Lorne keeps me company, but like I said, he's off-world."

"Oh," Dax nodded, still focusing on her food, "I just… never mind. I have a familiarity with solitude."

"I find that hard to believe," Sheppard told her. From what he'd seen of her he doubted she had much trouble finding company.

"Do I strike you as one of those vain, empty-headed types who spends all their time gossiping and discussing hair care products over non-fat lattes?" Dax's lips quirked and there was no heat or anger in her voice, only amusement. Sheppard studied her as she watched him expectantly. There was such casualness about her demeanour and appearance that he had to appreciate the humour of her statement.

"Not really," he admitted.

"That's a relief," she smirked, "I hate people like that. I'd rather go for a three mile run in the rain than discuss make-up and manicures."

"Maybe you should have been a Marine," Sheppard joked.

"Maybe," she agreed, "What _was_ I thinking?"

"Why am I not surprised?" McKay's voice sounded in Sheppard's ear and he fought to stop himself jumping in shock. How the hell had McKay managed to sneak up on him?

"What are you talking about Rodney?" he demanded, looking up at his friend, who was standing by his chair with a tray in his hand.

"What you decided to make a move before she heard the talk about your reputation?" McKay snarked at him in a low voice. Sheppard could see Dax studying them with a frown from the corner of his eye, but his attention was focused on McKay. He couldn't believe that Rodney would think that of him. He was supposed to be Sheppard's best friend!

"You're deluded," Sheppard informed him with a glare, "And what are you even doing here Rodney? I thought you would've had plans with Keller."

"She got held up in the infirmary," McKay groused, sitting down next to Sheppard, "Something about helping Carson setting up for this trip he's planning, handing out much needed aspirins and band-aids to the people of the Pegasus galaxy. Stupid waste of time and intelligence."

"Helping people is a waste of time?" Dax asked, her eyebrows climbing in surprise.

"Only for people with the intelligence to do something more productive," McKay shrugged as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe and Sheppard shook his head.

"Okay," Dax said slowly, her voice somewhere between disbelief and disapproval.

"May I join you?" Teyla asked with a smile as she walked up to the table.

"Sure," Sheppard said, studying her closely as she sat down beside Dax. She looked tired, and her cheerfulness looked kind of forced. He looked around, but couldn't see Kannaan or Torren anywhere. That was odd. The Athosian family had been practically inseparable since they were reunited when Atlantis came home. He shared a look with Rodney, who also appeared slightly worried, but neither of them said anything.

"Teyla, this is Dax," he decided to go with the safe option and introduce the two women.

"It's nice to meet you," Dax offered the Athosian woman a friendly smile.

"Your name is Dax?" Teyla asked hesitantly.

"Jadzia Davis," Dax smiled, "But I've gone by Dax since I was 8 years old."

"What does it mean? Dax?" Teyla asked.

"It seems our new prodigy is a _Star Trek_ fan," McKay remarked.

"A trait I share with my father," Dax corrected, "But yes, that's where it comes from."

"_Star Trek_ is a TV show," Sheppard explained to a confused looking Teyla, "Mostly watched by geeks."

"More than one, there are five," McKay corrected absently, "Jadzia Dax was a character in the third one."

"I think that just proved my point," Sheppard said, smirking at McKay, who was staring at the young redhead in puzzlement.

"That doesn't bother you at all?" he demanded of her.

"I suffered more for being smart when I was a kid, having a geeky nickname couldn't have made things any worse," Dax said with an indifferent shrug.

"So, Jadzia," Teyla smiled, "How are you finding the city?"

"Well I haven't had chance to see much of it yet, but it's incredible," Dax said in an awed voice, "It's all so overwhelming. I mean, I only found out about the Stargate about a month ago, and now..."

"So you were not a member of the…SGC prior to being sent here?" Teyla asked when it became apparent Dax wasn't planning to finish her sentence.

"No, I just met Daniel and something must have impressed him because it was only a few hours before he had me signing contracts to come here," Dax laughed slightly.

"Dr Jackson's an archaeologist," McKay grumbled, "He's easily impressed."

"Really? He seems singularly unimpressed by you," Dax responded with an overly sweet smile.

Sheppard couldn't stop the bark of laughter escaping him. It seemed so incongruous that this young, and physically unimposing woman was so unfazed by McKay. He's seen McKay reduce the other scientists in his team to nervous wrecks with a single look and make grown Marines cry, but Dax just shrugged of his insults and gave them back. It seemed that the Canadian may have finally met his match, and it was amusing to watch.

"Something funny Colonel?" Keller asked as she joined the table.

"Jennifer," Dax said happily as she looked up at the doctor.

"I see you've been making friends Dax," Keller smiled.

"Wait, you two know each other?" McKay demanded, looking faintly unnerved.

"We were on the _Daedalus_ together for three weeks Rodney," Keller informed him with a gentle smile, "Granted Dax tried to spend her every waking moment studying but I did convince her to socialise a little."

"You spent three weeks on the _Daedalus_ studying?" Sheppard demanded.

"There wasn't really anything else to do," Dax shrugged, though she looked a little uncomfortable, "Well, not much anyway."

"Studying what?"

"Dr Jackson's history of the Stargate, mission reports, scientific breakthroughs. Just the stuff to get me up to speed with what's going on here really," Dax explained.

"You managed to read all that, in three weeks?" Sheppard demanded in disbelief, "Here I was starting to think how normal you seemed."

"Thanks," Dax said dryly. He smirked at her, and she grinned slightly in response. Apparently it was an automatic reaction for her.

Sheppard walked back to his office after they ate still trying to stop chuckling to himself. McKay had not been pleased to discover that his new nemesis was very good friends with his girlfriend, and it had been amusing enough to see him trying not to make cutting remarks about the redhead, for the minute and a half that had lasted. Dax hadn't felt the same compulsion to hide their antagonism from Keller, and the doctor was entertained as the others by the pair's bickering.

He stepped into the office to find that Lorne was seated at the desk, and he smiled widely at the Major. Lorne's brow furrowed slightly for a moment before his usual smile appeared.

"You're in a good mood," he observed, sounding slightly surprised by the idea.

"I just finished having dinner with that new scientist that the _Daedalus_ delivered today," Sheppard explained as he sat down.

"I see," Lorne said his voice and expression suddenly neutral, verging on cold actually, making Sheppard blink in confusion. He felt a strange discomfort in his stomach and he absently wondered if there'd been something wrong with the meal he'd just eaten.

"Shame you weren't there actually, you'll like her," Sheppard assure him, trying to shrug off the sudden change in Lorne's demeanour.

"Really?" Lorne sounded unconvinced.

"She spent most of the meal trading insults with McKay," Sheppard smirked, "And didn't flinch once. She's not even slightly intimidated by him."

"Really? That makes her one of very few," Lorne observed, and hesitated before he continued, "So, what do you think of her?"

"I don't know, that's what I have you for," Sheppard shrugged and smirked at the younger man, "I never have much to do with the new recruits. I wouldn't have even been keeping her company normally, but you were off-world and I didn't have anyone else to eat with. Or at least I didn't think I did; turns out that McKay and Teyla didn't have other plans anyway."

He looked up to find that Lorne was staring at him with a strange expression that he couldn't decipher. He'd never really been good with people, as he'd once told Teyla, there was a reason he'd enjoyed flying choppers in the most remote area on Earth. That was part of the reason he preferred to let Lorne deal with the new personnel. Lorne was amiable and patient, and had a much better grasp of where people would fit in on their odd base.

"So you can do her orientation tomorrow?" he asked almost hesitantly when Lorne continued to stare at him.

"You don't want to do it yourself sir?" Lorne asked. Sheppard frowned.

"Not even a little bit," he assured the younger man, absently pulling some of his unfinished paperwork towards him, "I don't even remember half of the stuff you're supposed to tell them. And when did we go back to the formality? I think that's the first time you've called me sir since we got back here."

"Sorry," Lorne said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it," Sheppard instructed with an easy smile.

* * *

Lorne stifled a groan as he downed his third cup of coffee of the morning. His eyes felt full of sand and he really hoped he didn't look as tired as he felt. It was all Sheppard's fault, he thought, though he couldn't seem to dredge up any bitterness at that.

After the slightly awkward discussion of the new scientist in their office the previous night, Sheppard had obviously picked up on the fact that something was bothering Lorne. As a result he'd invited Lorne back to his quarters for a beer, and as usual, Lorne had been powerless to refuse. It didn't matter that he'd been up since 0530 that morning and spent most of the day off-world, and up until John made his offer he'd planned nothing for his evening except a hot shower and sleep. He would happily forgo a few hours of sleep to spend time with Sheppard.

He wasn't quite so happy now, since it had been past 0000 hours before he left Sheppard's quarters, and he hadn't exactly been in the right frame of mind to just drop straight off to sleep when he got back to his own room.

The one thing that reassured him was that there hadn't been a single mention of this 'Dax' after their initial conversation, so he didn't think that Sheppard was interested in her. That was, of course, what he'd been worried about when Sheppard first mentioned her. He knew he had no right to be jealous, but he couldn't help it. He knew John wasn't his, but they'd been spending much more time together since Atlantis returned briefly to Earth, and he'd almost started to believe that Sheppard might… But that was wishful thinking.

He shook his head in annoyance, and decided it was probably better to get it over with. He topped up his coffee and walked out of the mess, heading to his meeting with this new scientist.

The door to her quarters opened only moments after he rang the chime. The woman that greeted him was fairly short, and much younger than he'd expected. While it wasn't unusual for them to receive Marines who were in their mid-twenties, he didn't think there were any scientists that young in the city. He glanced over her, noting the warm smile she was directing at him that made her blue-green eyes flash, that she was wearing her uniform but her hair was still damp from the shower.

"Dr Jadzia Davis?" he asked, hoping she hadn't thought he was staring at her.

"Yes," she said, "But please, call me Dax."

"Alright," he agreed easily, "I'm Major Lorne, Colonel Sheppard's second-in-command."

"Nice to meet you," Dax smiled.

"Colonel Sheppard explained to you that I'd be doing your orientation and basic training?" he asked.

"He did," Dax assured him, "Am I late? I don't have a watch so I have no idea what time it is."

"It's…ah, oh, I didn't realise how early it still was," he said as he consulted his watch, and considered that she was a scientist, and therefore likely nocturnal, "Sorry. I can come back later."

"I'm not doing anything," Dax laughed, "Except going a little stir crazy. Three weeks on the _Daedalus_ has me wanting to crawl out of my own skin."

"I remember," Lorne nodded with a slight quirk of his lips, "Did you want to get breakfast before we start your orientation?"

"No thanks, I don't eat breakfast," she told him turning back into the room, "Just give me a second."

"No hurry!" Lorne called after her. He smiled a little sadly, wondering how long it would be before the realities of life on Atlantis erased her energetic enthusiasm. She had to be the youngest scientist they'd ever been sent. But John said that she wasn't intimidated by McKay and for a scientist here that was half the battle won, he guessed.

"Let's go," she said, reappearing in the doorway with a bright smile on her face.

They walked through the city in silence, and he caught Dax glancing at him. He was probably making her nervous, he mused, so he made an effort to smile the next time he caught her looking at him. He got a blinding smile in return. He waited patiently while she stopped and stared at the Stargate as they walked through the 'gate room. She finally dragged her eyes away and frowned in distaste when she realised people were staring at her. She moved to catch up with him and they continued up the stairs.

"Sorry about that," she said, "I'm still trying to wrap my head around this."

"It takes some getting used to," Lorne agreed as he opened the door to the office, "I remember my first few days at the SGC, vaguely. I was a little shell-shocked."

"Well, it's good to know I'm not suffering due to a lack of military training," Dax chuckled as she stepped into the office.

"Take John's chair, he hardly uses it," Lorne instructed her, though that wasn't as true as it once had been.

"He doesn't spend much time in here then?" Dax asked as she settled on the opposite side of the desk to him.

"I think he has an actually allergy to paperwork," Lorne smiled fondly, "He leaves most of it to me."

"Maybe you need a secretary," Dax suggested eyeing the stacks of paper that covered the desk. Lorne laughed softly and began to pull sheets of paper off of one of the piles. He still hadn't located the young woman's file, which he'd started looking for the previous night, but he figured that there couldn't be anything that important in it that she couldn't tell him herself.

"It wouldn't look so bad if Woolsey didn't insist on paper, instead of electronic. So Dr Jackson brought you into the program?" he asked after a moment.

"Yeah, I'm still not sure what I said to make him think it was a good idea, but there must have been something," Dax shrugged.

"Huh, maybe if he likes you that much you could put in a good word for me," Lorne said absently.

"Daniel doesn't like you?" Dax demanded, disbelief clear in her expression and tone.

"Ah…it was a few years ago. A mining operation from the SGC on P3X-403. There were…artifacts there, old mining equipment mainly. They were in the way and my CO ordered them moved," he laughed humourlessly when he saw Dax wince, "Yeah, Dr Jackson was not happy when he found out."

"Archaeologists can be funny that way," Dax said mildly, "But Daniel's a nice guy, I doubt he's still bearing a grudge."

"If you say so," Lorne said dubiously, absently wondering about the nature of Dax's relationship with Jackson. It was something of a hazard of living virtually cut off from Earth, you started to speculate about the personal lives of the people you worked with.

"Mining operation?" Dax asked curiously.

"I was a part of the team responsible for finding naquadah for the X303/304 projects before I was transferred here,"he shrugged.

Dax was nodding in understanding, and he suddenly gave more credence to Sheppard's statement that she claimed to be up-to-speed on the history of the program and the associated technologies. He opened one of the desk drawers and handed the redhead a 28-hour digital watch. She accepted it with a nod of thanks and strapped it to her right wrist as he handed over the forms she needed to sign.

Once that was done, he decided that she was probably capable of doing two things at once, so he showed her around the city while he briefed her on procedures and emergency practices. He showed her around the labs and she'd had training on some of the Ancient systems before they ended up on one of the balconies after several hours.

"You coping with all this?" Lorne asked her as she looked out over the spires of the city. She nodded and smiled over at him.

"You expected something else?" she asked curiously.

"Well, most people find all the information and procedures overwhelming, especially the civilians," Lorne said eyeing her curiously.

"I'm a quick study," she told him with a smile, "How else would I have managed to complete two doctorates in eight years?"

"So you never have trouble learning anything?" Lorne asked her.

"Well," she said uncomfortably, "I'm pretty useless with spoken languages."

"Really?" he asked with a quirky grin and she blushed.

"Yeah, I'm fine with reading inscriptions, cuneiform, glyphs, hell, I can read the stairs in the gate room as easily as if they written in English," Dax laughed humourlessly, "But I studied French for five years and I am still totally clueless."

"You learned to read Ancient in three weeks but you can't speak French?" Lorne could barely keep the humour out of his voice.

"I can say one thing," she said with a sly smile.

"What?" he asked.

"I…ah, nevermind," she said, suddenly blushing and looking away uncomfortably. Lorne's eyebrows rose in surprise. It was almost as if… he mentally shook his head. There was no way she'd been about to flirt with him, especially after she'd spent several hours with Sheppard the previous day. He was just reading it wrong. It wasn't that surprising, he couldn't remember the last time he'd noticed a woman flirting with him.

"So do you want to get to basic training?" Lorne asked, breaking the heavy silence and she nodded happily.

"Weapons or self-defence first?" he offered.

"Weapons," Dax replied giving him a sly look, "We can get hot and sweaty later."

Lorne nodded in silent agreement, since he was having trouble making his voice work. He led the way to the shooting range and armoury in silence. He wasn't sure what to say. He'd actually been enjoying her company, she was unsurprisingly intelligent and she had a quirky sense of humour, but after her blatant innuendo he was slightly uncomfortable. He realised as he let Dax into the armoury that she was trying to mask her discomfort. She seemed relaxed but her fingers toyed with the sleeves of her jacket and her eyes darted around, looking everywhere but at him.

"So," he said cheerfully, "I don't suppose you've ever fired a weapon before?"

"Only if a compound bow counts," Dax said with the same bright smile she'd been giving him all day.

"Really?" he asked, not sure if she was joking with him.

"Sure. I've been doing archery since I was 13," she told him, "It's fun."

"You any good?" Lorne asked.

"Never had any complaints," she said quirking an eyebrow at him.

"Alright," he chuckled, wondering if she was just flirty by nature. After all, she didn't seem put off by the fact he wasn't reacting to her advances.

He hadn't planned to show her the use of anything beyond a 9mil and the small Wraith stunner, but he got her to admit she was a fair shot. When she emptied the clip into the paper target and he reeled it in to examine it, he found that 'fair' wasn't quite the right word for it.

"What?" she asked after he'd stared at it for a minute, "Ok it's been a while since I practiced but surely my aim can't be that bad."

"Bad?" Lorne laughed turning to face her, "You're better than most of the civilians here who get training every month. You've really never fired a gun before?"

"Really," Dax said with a pleased smile.

"Ok," Lorne nodded and picked up a P-90, "Let's see how you deal with this."

Dax proved her statement about being a quick study as it only took her a few attempts to strip and reassemble the weapon properly. She looked fairly comical with the big gun, her being so small, but it didn't seem to affect her aim. She wasn't as good a shot as the military personnel, but she was certainly better than most of the civilians he'd cleared in the last few years. When the colonel saw her targets he would be happy to put her on an off-world team.

"Problem?" Dax asked as she took off her ear defenders and joined him.

"Not at all," he said with a shake of his head.

"So…anything else or are we done with the guns?" Dax asked.

"I think we can move on to self-defence," Lorne nodded.

"You sure you don't want to change?" he asked as he opened the gym twenty minutes later.

"I'm fine," Dax assured him, grinning as she scraped her hair into an untidy ponytail with a band she'd fished out of her pocket.

She unlaced her boots with a quick flick of the laces and kicked them to one side of the mats, tossing her socks after them and shrugging out of her jacket. He watched her as he took off his own boots and jacket. She was working through some warm up stretches and he absently noticed she had a tattoo on her left wrist. He gave her a curious look as she straightened up and he saw the bead-chain hanging around her neck.

"What?" she asked tilting her head slightly.

"Are you wearing dog tags?" he asked, and she chuckled slightly as she nodded.

"Yeah," she assured him, "Why?"

"That's what I was going to ask you. I didn't think they even issued them to the civilians," Lorne told her with a frown. She smiled slightly and tugged on the chain, pulling the tags out from under her shirt. Along with the two standard silver tags, there was a third, red tag hanging on the chain.

"Medical condition?" he asked in surprise, knowing full well what the red tag signified.

"Medication allergy," Dax explained as she tucked the tags back under her clothes, "Given the likelihood of medical emergency situations here, it seemed sensible."

"Very," he agreed. It was far from uncommon to have people rushed to the infirmary unconscious, and the medical staff couldn't be expected to remember the medical files of everyone on the base.

"I thought Teyla usually did the self defence training for the women," Dax remarked.

"She does, but she's visiting her people," Lorne replied, "Who told you that?"

"Dr Keller, we were on the _Daedalus_ together," Dax replied, "So why the sexist training?"

"It's not that Colonel Sheppard thinks you can't keep up with the guys," Lorne laughed, hearing the affronted tone in her voice, "Ronon does the rest of the training and most of the women here find him…distracting."

Dax snorted in disbelief and Lorne stared at her incredulously.

"You don't agree?" he asked curiously.

"What is there to find distracting?" she asked, "I'm sure that he's quite attractive to a lot of women, but my taste doesn't run to human mountains with more muscles than brains."

"Ronon isn't stupid," Lorne told her irritably.

"Ok, so I like my guys a little less monosyllabic," Dax shrugged, "I was introduced to him in the mess hall last night and I swear he only said one intelligible word."

"Well if you're immune to his charms maybe you'd prefer to have him do the rest of your training?" Lorne suggested.

"Nah, that's ok," she told him shooting him a cheeky look, "I'd rather have you."

He smiled faintly and beckoned her closer. He showed her the basic punches, blocks and kicks before he moving onto the actual self-defence. He talked her through some of the disarming techniques he was going to show her before squaring off against her. He probably hadn't been paying attention the way he should have, distracted by trying to work out the reason for her flirting. He stepped in towards her and before he knew it she'd blocked his strike, grabbing his right wrist with her left hand and her right arm snaked around his left. In one fluid movement she'd twisted her hips into his and shoved back, propelling him forwards over her hip.

He was so surprised that when he hit the floor the breath whooshed out of him and he looked up at her, pinning him to the floor with a broad grin on her face.

"What the hell?" he gasped.

"Maybe you should have read my file a little more closely, Major," she smirked down at him.

"Obviously," he growled, driving his hips up and twisting, throwing her over his head. He allowed his momentum to carry him, and he should have ended up in a better position, except that Dax twisted in a way that he was sure was nearly impossible. They grappled for several minutes and Dax proved to be adept at escaping from his holds and pins. In the end she twisted him into an armbar, arching up to apply painful pressure to his elbow and shoulder.

"Ouch," he said pointedly, tapping the leg thrown over his chest with his free hand. Dax smiled and unwound herself from him at the signal of submission, rising to her feet in a fluid motion. She looked down at him with an apologetic smile and shake of her head.

"Sorry," she said, offering him her hand, "I really should have told you, but I just can't resist sometimes. I might not be the best, but I can hold my own against most people, no matter how much bigger they are than me."

"Really?" he asked allowing her to pull him to his feet, "Show me what you can do."

"Thought you'd never ask," Dax grinned wickedly and he suddenly wondered what the hell he'd let himself in for.

Lorne tried not to show that he was in pain as he walked back to his office. As they'd sparred Dax had demonstrated a firm grasp of self defence. While she'd only managed to connect with a few of her strikes, a limitation of her short stature and reach, she'd put him on the floor repeatedly. He wasn't about to admit that to anyone though. Right now all he wanted was to have another look at her file, to see exactly why she was so amused by him. Then return to his quarters for a hot shower in the hopes of easing the knots in his muscles.

He was so focused on that thought he didn't even look around as he entered the office. He waved his hand over the door crystals to close it behind him and winced at the pain it sent through his shoulder.

"Problem Lorne?" a voice asked, making him jump.

"Colonel?" he said, his pulse racing from the surprise at seeing Sheppard, "What are you doing here?"

"Excuse me?" Sheppard asked his eyebrows raising, "Last time I checked this was my office too."

"Ah…Of course," Lorne said hastily, "But I didn't expect to see you here, you already put in your monthly quota of hours for paperwork."

"That's very funny Major," Sheppard said flatly.

"Sorry sir," Lorne said fighting a smile, knowing his CO wasn't really mad, "But you very rarely come here unless you have to."

"Well, I had to," Sheppard growled, moving some papers around on the desk.

"Paperwork?" Lorne asked with a puzzled frown. He was sure they'd completed most of the work that required Sheppard's attention the night before, he wondered what could be important enough to make Sheppard venture into his office again so soon.

"I lost my iPod," Sheppard grumbled, continuing to search the desk and Lorne laughed out loud.

"Lorne?" Sheppard didn't sound impressed.

"Sorry," Lorne said, trying unsuccessfully to stop smiling.

"So what brings you here?" Sheppard asked, blatantly changing the subject, "You seem a little pre-occupied."

"I was looking for Dax's file," Lorne admitted ruefully.

"Any particular reason?" Sheppard asked flopping down into his chair.

"During her training she suggested that I might not have studied it closely enough, which is certainly true since we couldn't find it," Lorne said absently as he tried for a second time to locate the file after Sheppard's 'reorganising' of the desk.

"Something important?" Sheppard asked as Lorne located the elusive personnel file and flicked through it.

"Oh, well that explains it," Lorne laughed humourlessly as he scanned the pages of Dax's file.

"What?"

Lorne handed the file to the Colonel with a slight smile that turned into a wince at the pain in his shoulder from Dax's armbar. Sheppard gave him a questioning look as he took the file.

"Personal Interests and Hobbies," Lorne absently rubbed at his shoulder as he directed Sheppard to the section he'd been looking at.

"Ok," Sheppard said flipping to the relevant page and reading out loud, "Horse riding, archery, rock climbing, yoga… rugby?"

"I've heard it's popular in the UK," Lorne supplied, grimacing as his abused muscles knotted further at his attempts to ease them.

"Alright," Sheppard continued reading, "Swimming, purple belt in Brazilian Ju Jit-su?"

"Yeah," Lorne said wryly, "I really wish I'd read that earlier."

"Lorne?" Sheppard studied him curiously for a moment before grinning slyly, "Did she kick your ass?"

"Hardly sir," Lorne replied stiffly, though his body was screaming in contradiction.

"Anything you say," Sheppard said, staring at him intently.

"She caught me a little off-guard, that's all," Lorne admitted grudgingly, gingerly sitting down opposite Sheppard.

"Well, even that's impressive," Sheppard remarked, "What's the verdict on her Evan?"

"Dax is…well…" he shook his head to clear his thoughts of the warmth Sheppard's familiarity and praise had caused, "She's a good shot for a civilian, comfortable with the weapons, understandably good at hand-to-hand. She seems to be noticeably lacking in the arrogance and self-importance we normally get in our scientists. You could easily put her on a off-world team John."

"And what do you suggest I do about the fact she seems to have crippled my second-in-command?" Sheppard asked, giving him a significant look.

"Hardly crippled," Lorne protested defensively.

"You look like you can barely move," Sheppard observed.

"Ok, my back and shoulders feel like a solid mass of knots," Lorne admitted grudgingly, "But it's nothing a hot shower and a good night's sleep won't sort out."

"I have a better solution," Sheppard said easily, and in a single fluid movement he was on his feet and around the desk, standing behind Lorne's chair.

"Wha…?" Lorne tried to look around at his CO, but found himself inhibited by protesting muscles.

"You'll have to lose the jacket Lorne," Sheppard said easily, his hands already tugging the offending garment down off Lorne's shoulders. Lorne sat, frozen, his mouth suddenly drier than the Sahara and his heart going faster than the time he'd thought they were all going to die on the _Orion_. Sheppard made a satisfied noise as he managed to get Lorne's jacket off despite Lorne's best imitation of an inanimate object, and his hands resolutely settled on Lorne's shoulders.

Lorne shivered involuntarily. There was nothing sensual or inappropriately intimate about the touch, and he was still wearing his uniform shirt, but he couldn't help but react to having Sheppard's hands on him. Sheppard didn't appear to notice though, he just ran his hands over Lorne's neck and shoulders once or twice before beginning to knead firmly at the knotted muscles.

Lorne bit his lip to stop himself moaning wantonly in appreciation. He'd never imagined anything like this in over four years of fantasising about John Sheppard, and in a way that was a good thing. Because nothing he could have imagined could have come close to how good this felt. John's hands were magic. They unerringly found every knot and sore spot and worked over them until they vanished. Lorne was slumped forward in his chair and felt completely indistinguishable from a puddle of goo. In fact, he doubted he could summon tension if the Wraith appeared in the city at that moment. John's thumbs pressed into a knot between his shoulders and he couldn't stop the groan that escaped him.

He suddenly became very aware of himself. His breathing was coming in short pants and sounded frighteningly loud even to his own ears. He knew his skin was flushed and couldn't believe that Sheppard was unaware of the heat radiating from him. And he was painfully hard.

He'd been so focused on the sensation of John's hands wandering over him that he hadn't really thought about how his body was reacting. A sudden sense of panic gripped him. He couldn't let Sheppard find out the effect he had on him, it could end his career. And even if Sheppard decided not to report him, he doubted their friendship would survive the discovery of Lorne's feelings for the other man. He hastily grabbed for his jacket, trying not to be obvious about holding in front of him to hide his…problem, and bolted from the office, stammering what he hoped were hurried thanks and excuses, leaving a bewildered John Sheppard staring after him.


	3. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer_: I own nothing, sadly.

_Pairings_: Sheppard/Lorne

_Author's Note_: This story contains swearing and references to m/m relationships, but nothing graphic for the moment. However, if that's not your thing, back away now. I would also like to say that any cultural stereotypes in this story are not meant to be offensive, nor taken seriously. This is the first thing I've ever posted, so please be kind if you review.

On a less relevant note, I just got around to watching the first episode of season 5 of _A Town Called Eureka_. A town full of Kavan Smith clones... y'know, I think I've had dreams like that. Also, I have discovered that the biggest impediment to my writing is not the dreaded writer's block, but Spider Solitaire. Whoever decided to put card games on computers should be shot.

Chapter 2

Daniel was thrilled. He'd been in Atlantis for over a day, and he hadn't been shot at or kidnapped. Instead, he'd been given his own lab, where he'd been able to sit for hours reading through the Ancient database. Or translating the files onto the computer and reading them. Jack would probably call him seven kinds of idiot for enjoying something so 'boring', but then Jack liked fishing so he didn't have a leg to stand on really.

He had no idea what time it was, because really he had far more important things to worry about than getting a watch set to Atlantis time, when the door to the lab hissed open and Dax walked in with a bright smile on her face. She looked a little flushed, her hair tied back untidily and her shirt slightly rumpled. Her uniform jacket was in her hand and she greeted him brightly.

"Dax," Daniel smiled looking up from the stack of notes on the desk in front of him, "Settling in alright?"

"I guess. Just came from sparring with Major Lorne," she said as she claimed a seat on the opposite side of the desk, "That was fun. Not sure he'd agree, but I enjoyed it."

"I take it you didn't tell Major Lorne about the extent of your martial arts training before you started with sparring?" Daniel looked at her with a questioning expression.

"It slipped my mind," she lied glibly, "You know, he told me you don't like him."

"He said what?" Daniel frowned at her.

"Mining artifacts on... P3X-403," Dax prompted.

"Oh, that," Daniel said, the memory falling into place, "Well yes, if they'd called me in when they first found the artifacts a lot of the problems we had there could have been avoided… But as I recall it was Colonel Edwards that was in charge and Lorne was just following orders."

"What happened?" Dax asked. Daniel wasn't surprised by the question, Dax had proved to be curious about all the missions and alien cultures he'd mentioned since they met. Since he rarely found such a receptive audience he was only too happy to relate the story, and she listened with rapt attention When he finished she stared at him for a minute before suggesting that he should find a way to let Lorne know he wasn't bearing a grudge about the incident.

"I suppose," Daniel agreed, still slightly surprised by the idea that the Major had even considered it. Things like that happened off-world all the time and for the most part no-one gave it a second thought once the reports were filed. He hadn't thought about that incident in years.

Dax smiled at him and offered to help with whatever he was doing. He explained that he was trying to search the Ancient database for references to the Ancient inventor Janis and his creations that could help in the war against the Wraith. Or at least that was what he told the SGC so they'd let him make the trip to Atlantis. Really he just wanted to study the life and culture of the Ancients.

Dax laughed at his subterfuge and agreed to help him look though the database. She moved to one of the Ancient terminals against the wall and sat down in front of it. The screen on the wall flickered into life as soon as she laid her hands on the interface crystals and she gazed at the scrolling patterns of Ancient text. She paused for a moment, then started work, her hands flowing over the control crystals.

"You can read it all alright?" Daniel asked as he watched her eyes flicker over the display.

"I'm fine as long as you don't want me to speak it," she said ruefully, "I really have no ear for languages."

"But you can read them?" Daniel frowned, not really seeing how that worked.

"I guess my medium is visual," Dax shrugged waving her hand over the controls so the screen flashed to another page of information, "I learned to write in Tolkien's Elvish in three days."

"Why would you learn to write a fictional language?" Daniel demanded looking up from his notes.

"Privacy," Dax said, "I write all my personal notes and journal entries in it. Computer encryptions can be broken, but very few people would recognise what language it's in, let alone have the patience to decipher it."

Daniel shook his head at this example of academic paranoia. It looked like genius still came with a suspicious nature; they all though everyone was trying to steal their work. They lapsed into silence and Dax turned her attention fully to the Ancient database.

"This thing is amazing, it's like it reads your mind. It's giving me the information before I even finish asking for it," Dax remarked after some time, "But you'd think a race of people who could make their whole city fly would be able to make their computers work without that annoying hum.

"What hum?" Daniel asked curiously. He couldn't hear anything.

"You don't hear it?" she asked with a frown, "It's giving me a headache."

"You sure it's not the fact you've been staring at that screen for the last few hours?" Daniel suggested.

"What? Don't be ridiculous!" Dax scoffed pulling up her sleeve to look at her watch, "How the hell did that happen?"

"What were you reading?" Daniel asked curiously, wanting to know what had captured her attention so fully.

"Well, that's the weird thing, the database kept bringing up random files that distracted me from what I was looking at in the first place," Dax laughed shortly, "It's probably a glitch."

"But you read it anyway?" Daniel stated, not really surprised.

"Well, it brought up biological information on a creature called _Flagesallus_, it's a whale-like fish that inhabited the ocean of the original Lantean planet," Dax said, "Then the Ancient's research into a genetic degradation in a species of wild canid only found on one planet in this galaxy, a geological survey on a mountain range three times the size of the Himalayas, oh, and there was something on a enzyme secreted by a vine that had some interesting biochemical potential."

"Sounds fascinating," Sheppard said dryly from where he was leaning in the doorway. After Lorne's odd reaction to his attempt to help him back in their office he'd decided to go and bother McKay. He'd heard voices as he walked passed the lab they'd given Daniel Jackson and stopped to see who it was. Dax looked up sharply and winced.

"Oh, not good," she said quietly, swaying slightly.

"You ok Dax?" Sheppard asked his eyes narrowing as he took in how pale she looked.

"Just dizzy," she said waving off his inquiry as she straightened up and moved away from the computer.

"You ill?" Sheppard asked with a frown.

"No, I'm fine," she assured him.

"It's probably the fact she's been staring at that screen for the last three or four hours," Daniel remarked with a roll of his eyes.

"Well I didn't realise it'd been that long," Dax said defensively, "I got distracted."

"I'll never understand scientists," Sheppard shook his head. What could be so interesting that they could lose track of time staring at a screen?

"I don't think it's that anyway Daniel," the young scientist snapped irritably, "I told you, it's that damned hum giving me a headache."

"Hum?" Sheppard repeated, eyeing her curiously.

"It's nothing," Dax huffed, "Daniel can't hear anything either. I'm probably going mad, but I can hear a sort of low electric hum."

"Really?" Sheppard asked, a suspicion beginning to form in his mind.

"Ok, why are you looking at me like that?" Dax asked hesitantly.

"Come with me," he ordered.

"Ok…" Dax said warily, falling in behind him as he headed out of the door. He led her down the corridor and into McKay's lab. McKay was at his desk, muttering to himself as he stared at the screen in front of him. He didn't even seem to notice Sheppard's arrival.

"Hey Rodney," he offered absently as he began searching through the various tables.

"Sheppard, what are you doing?" McKay asked in exasperation as he looked up, "I already told you I haven't see your iPod."

"I'm not looking for my iPod," Sheppard growled. He'd given up trying to locate the elusive music player, either someone had borrowed it and forgotten to mention it, or it had grown legs and walked off on its own. Only on Atlantis could the latter be considered as a viable option.

"Then stop moving things around!" McKay demanded striding over and snatching things out of Sheppard's hands, "You're messing up my lab!"

"Really?" Dax said doubtfully, looking around,'Cause from where I'm standing it's a mess already."

"Well no-one asked you!" McKay glared at her, "And what are you doing here anyway?"

"He told me to follow him," Dax shrugged with a gesture at Sheppard.

"Why, exactly?" McKay demanded.

"I'm looking for something ATA responsive," Sheppard told him, "You normally have a half dozen things lying around here that you want turning on…"

"Here," McKay huffed, grabbing something off his desk and throwing it to Sheppard. He caught the life-signs detector reflexively and handed it to Dax. She took it and studied it. It was a little too big to fit comfortably in her hand and her brow furrowed as she tried to work out what it was. Sheppard moved to look at one of the equation boards, absently noting that McKay still hadn't worked out that his math was wrong.

"Cool, it picks up life-signs," Dax exclaimed, looking at the Ancient device in delight.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" McKay exclaimed plaintively and Sheppard resisted the urge to smirk at his friend's outrage.

"What?" Dax asked, looking between them in concern, "What now?"

"McKay just got a nasty shock, that's all," Sheppard smirked smugly and he could see Dax's confusion deepened.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" she demanded.

"That thing you're holding is a life-signs detector," Sheppard supplied.

"I worked that out," Dax told him.

"It only works for people with the Ancient gene," he explained.

"You're telling me I have the Ancient gene?" Dax asked doubtfully, looking down at the device in her hand.

"You didn't know?" McKay demanded, "You must have been tested at Stargate Command!"

"I never went to Stargate Command," Dax explained, "I had my medical in DC, and the _Daedalus_ picked me from my flat."

"This is just wonderful," McKay complained, "It's not bad enough that everyone thinks she's something special because she's here at General O'Neill's say-so, she has to have the gene too?"

"_She_ can hear you y'know," Dax told the Canadian irritably.

"Stop being so childish Rodney," Sheppard admonished. McKay started to say something undoubtedly snarky and long winded, but Sheppard didn't hear him. He'd noticed Dax sway slightly and moved to catch her before she hit the floor. He looked from the unconscious woman to his suddenly silent friend.

"So what? Now you've got them _literally_ falling at your feet?" McKay demanded after a beat.

Rolling his eyes at the poor attempt at humour, Sheppard straightened up, lifting the young redhead easily. Unsurprisingly given her size she was light enough for him to carry to the infirmary with ease. He didn't see any reason to call for a medical team, he could probably get her there in the time it would take for Keller to get to them anyway.

Dax woke up in the infirmary and cursed unhappily. She'd obviously only just got there since she was still in her uniform and hadn't been hooked up to any of the torture implements yet. Shaking her head she sat up and started to climb down from the bed, but Dr Keller caught her.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded.

"Getting up," Dax said bluntly, since it was fairly obvious what she was doing.

"You're not going anywhere until I say so," Keller said firmly, "Colonel Sheppard said you fainted."

"I did," Dax agreed, "Could be because I neglected to eat lunch after sparring with Lorne and then lost track of time in the lab. It's just low blood-sugar, I'll be fine."

"I'm the doctor, I'll be the judge of that," Keller said firmly.

"Fine, run your tests," Dax grumbled leaning back against the pillows.

She sat twiddling her thumbs and counting the panels on the ceiling above her bed for the better part of an hour, while Keller ran what must have been every test known to man. She was just starting to consider making a break for the door and the consequences be damned when she heard a voice she recognised.

"Hey doc, I heard that Dax is in here?"

"She's in bed three Major, go on through," Keller said and a moment later Lorne appeared by her bed.

"Hey," he grinned, "Ending up in the infirmary on your first day here?"

"Keep making fun of me and you'll be joining me," Dax threatened with a smile.

"Duly noted," Lorne nodded, "So what happened?"

"I…ah, forgot to get lunch, that's all," Dax shrugged, "And the weird hum in this place was giving me a headache. And now Keller's holding me hostage here!"

"So you have the gene," Lorne stated.

"Who told you?" she asked.

"The hum?" he said, "Far as I can tell only people with the gene can hear it."

"Oh," Dax nodded slowly, "So are you here to help me break out?"

"Maybe if you hadn't take such pleasure in making a fool out of me earlier I'd be more inclined to help," Lorne suggested.

"I think you misinterpreted," Dax offered him a sly smile, "It was the rolling around on the floor with you I enjoyed."

Lorne cleared his throat uncomfortably. He wasn't having a good day.

Ok, that wasn't really true. As much as his sparring session with the young scientist had been slightly humiliating, he could live with it if it got him a repeat performance of Sheppard's massage skills. He still felt completely blissed out from the one he received in their office- though what he'd done in the privacy of his quarters after his hasty retreat might have contributed to that. But sitting alone in his quarters reliving it just led to him driving himself crazy trying to figure out, among other things, if Sheppard had realised the effect he'd had on Lorne.

Deciding that he was risking deluding himself into believing Sheppard's motivations had been anything other than innocent, had driven him out of his quarters again in search of a distraction. When he'd heard about Dax and decided to visit her in the infirmary. It hadn't really occurred that her overly flirtatious nature wasn't something he wanted to deal with right then.

"Dax I can't find anything wrong with you except the fact you need to eat better," Keller announced as she wandered up to the bed, saving him from needing to formulate a response.

"I told you that nearly an hour ago," Dax said irritably, jumping down from the bed, "I take it I can go?"

"Yes you can go," Keller frowned at her, "Though I suggest you go to the mess hall and get something to eat before you do anything else."

"I'm meeting my team there now doc, I'll make sure she eats," Lorne offered.

"Thank you Major," Keller smiled.

"I'm not a child, I don't need to be watched!" Dax objected as she stuffed her feet into her boots and tied the laces viciously.

"You don't want to have dinner with me?" Lorne asked, doubting she would read anything into it. After all, he hadn't responded to any of her flirtations, and he'd already mentioned that he was planning to meet his team in the mess.

"Hmm," Dax smiled faintly, "I guess I don't have anything else planned."

"Don't sound too enthusiastic, I don't think my ego could cope," Lorne told her with a faint smile, earning him a grin in response. He gestured for her to precede him out of the infirmary which she was only too happy to do.

"Not fond of hospitals?" he surmised as she hurried away from the medical bay.

"Not so much," she confirmed, "I'm not a big fan of needles, and the last time I…well there was an incident where a doctor didn't read my medical history and I nearly died."

"Something to do with your allergy?" Lorne asked.

"Yeah, it started out as a simple injury, but they gave me a shot of antibiotics and I happen to be allergic to penicillin. I went into anaphylactic shock," Dax smiled wryly, "I would have been better off letting the rugby team physio patch me up."

"Well, Keller's a good doctor," Lorne shrugged, wishing he sounded more sincere. The truth was he'd always go to Carson, given the choice. There was just something about the Scottish doctor that inspired confidence, and Keller… Maybe it was her youth, or maybe it was because she came across as so timid.

The mess hall was busy when they stepped inside, and Dax looked a little surprised. Lorne explained the rush of people all trying to eat at once was because they were serving Salisbury steak. The look on Dax's face told him that she didn't agree with the many people on the base who considered it to be a favourite. His team were already sitting at a table with their meals and Lorne directed Dax over to join them. They looked up as one when they heard them approach.

"Major, we were beginning to think you'd gotten lost," Sergeant Marks said as they sat down.

"That'd be my fault," Dax said as she settled in a chair, "He had to break me out of the infirmary."

"Guys, this is Dax," Lorne said as they stared at her, "Dax, this is my team; Coughlin, Marks, Kagan and Marcus."

"Hi," she said brightly.

"I don't remember seeing you before," Kagan remarked, studying her.

"I'm new," she replied returning his frank appraisal.

"Wait," Marcus frowned, "The one all the scientists have been going on about all day? I thought I heard one of them say the name was Davis."

"It is," Dax shrugged, "Jadzia Davis, but I usually go by Dax. It's shorter."

"So does this mean she'll be joining our team at some point sir?" Kagan asked, looking at Lorne questioningly.

"At some point?" Dax repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, civilian scientists have to have a certain amount of training before they go off world," the young lieutenant said. Dax looked at Lorne with a grin.

"I'd be careful not to annoy her Kagan, she could kick your ass without breaking a sweat," Lorne remarked casually, masking the exaggeration. His team laughed, until they saw that he wasn't smiling.

"Seriously?" Kagan asked warily, looking the redhead over again.

"What? You think because I'm only 5'2 I can't look after myself?" Dax questioned innocently.

"Dax doesn't really need much in the way of training," Lorne explained.

"So she will be joining the team?" Coughlin asked, "We've never had a scientist before."

"Nothing's been decided yet," Lorne shrugged, he hadn't even thought about Dax being assigned to his team, "It's Colonel Sheppard's choice to make."

He realised as his team nodded in acknowledgement that not one of them was considering that he might have had any personal reason to ask her to join them. They all seemed to assume that his reasoning was purely professional, whether there was anything officially decided or not. While they weren't the same team he'd had before Atlantis returned to Earth, Kagan was the only one who'd never been on his team before. It seemed they all accepted that he wasn't the dating type. That made him frown in concern for a moment before he admonished himself for over thinking things. The increasing time he was spending around Sheppard was throwing him off-balance. He glanced up at his team. Dax was chatting easily with Marks and Kagan. They were the youngest members of Lorne's team, Kagan probably only had a year or two on her.

"Lorne?"

Lorne flinched slightly but automatically looked up when he heard Sheppard's voice. The colonel was standing beside the table looking down at them. There was a hesitant and uncertain air about him, as if he wasn't sure how Lorne was going to react to him. That had to be a first, Lorne thought absently.

"Colonel?" he asked, swallowing hard and trying to force down the memory of Sheppard's hands on him and the images that flashed through his mind as he…

"Stackhouse's team just came back from M6G-549," Sheppard said sitting down, thankfully halting Lorne's train of thought, "It seems that they had a bit of a problem with some bacteria in the water the locals served them. Keller says they'll be out of action for about a week."

"I see," was all Lorne could think to say.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask your team to babysit Drs Parrish and Stevens on their trip to M4X-332," Sheppard said apologetically.

"Yes sir," Lorne groaned wearily, a sound echoed by more than one of his team.

"Don't worry Lorne," Sheppard told him, "It's not for three days yet."

"Is Dr Parrish likely to suffer an extreme personality change in that time?" Lorne asked dryly.

"Sorry," Sheppard chuckled at the plaintive note in Lorne's voice. They looked at each other, grinning, and for a moment all the awkwardness Lorne had felt was gone, replaced by a familiar warmth. He barely heard the conversation going on beside them.

"Something I missed?" Dax asked Kagan.

"Dr Parrish is a botanist we sometimes look after off-world," Kagan explained.

"He's quite possibly one of the most idiotic and annoying people in two galaxies," Sheppard put in, breaking them out of their frozen moment of contemplation.

"This from the man who has Dr McKay on his team," Dax muttered, earning laughter from Lorne and his team.

"I've found much worse people to go on missions with," Sheppard informed her.

"Sorry," Dax said hastily, "I wasn't trying to be…"

"Relax," he told her, "A sense of humour is a rare enough thing in the scientists here that I'm not about to call you on it."

"I didn't realise a complete lack of humour was a prerequisite of the job, sir," she grinned.

"Lorne," Sheppard said slowly as he stared at Dax.

"Sir?"

"Just how much time have you spent with our new scientist today?"

"Ah, a few hours," Lorne shifted uncomfortably, "I wasn't really keeping track. Why?"

"You're clearly a bad influence on her," Sheppard told him, finally looking away from the redhead and back at Lorne, "This calling me 'sir' thing. Though come to think of it you haven't been doing that so much recently…"

"Well you insisted enough times," Lorne mumbled sheepishly, glancing up at his CO, before continuing "But if you want an honest opinion, I'd say Dax's propriety is probably an act."

"Lorne!" Dax protested, making him want to laugh. He'd seen enough to feel fairly confident in his assessment.

"Really?" Sheppard asked, "I'm sensing a story here Lorne."

"Ah, not really," Lorne assured him hastily.

"You really landed yourself in that one Major," Dax told him sweetly making Lorne wince.

"Is there something I should know about?" Sheppard asked as he looked between them.

"No," Lorne assured him firmly. He didn't want Sheppard to get the wrong idea, despite there being a certain wisdom to allowing it. He felt like banging his head against the table. He had problems.

Sheppard and Lorne were the last of the group to leave the mess hall. They'd fallen into easy conversation and not even noticed when the others left. Sheppard had no idea what had been bothering Lorne, but it hadn't taken long for him to get over it. That made it harder to understand, but then, Sheppard didn't have much experience with anything resembling emotions, so he wasn't particularly surprised that he couldn't work it out.

Finding himself standing alone in the hall after Lorne left pleading uncompleted work, Sheppard headed for the nearest transporter and took it to McKay's lab. It didn't even register until he stepped through the doors to find it completely dark, that his best friend was probably busy with Keller. He was already out of the lab and on his way to look for Teyla, when it occurred to him that she would be with her family. Ronon would probably be with Amelia, they had been spending a lot of time together since the city landed on Earth. Sheppard really needed to get his head around the fact that his team had other commitments now. It was easier to remember when he could spend time with Lorne, but that wasn't an option unless he wanted to spend the evening in his office. He was contemplating that versus a night in his quarters with his copy of _War and Peace_, when he realised that his route had taken him passed Dax's quarters.

He turned back and rang the chime, figuring that he could at least kill a few more minutes checking on how the new scientist was settling in. He'd been too focused on his XO in the mess to ask her then, and she'd looked occupied with Kagan and Marks. And right now he was willing to grasp at any distraction that would stop him from going to his office. It would be far too strange to spend his off hours there given his usual avoidance of the place, no matter how much he was craving company.

He rang the chime again and waited. His connection to the city allowed him to know that the room he was standing outside wasn't empty, but since the door showed no sign of opening he guessed that Dax didn't want to be disturbed. He was just turning away when the door slid to the side, letting the sound of an unfamiliar song drift into the corridor. He stepped inside and the door shut behind him.

He looked around, but didn't spot Dax at first. Then his eyes landed on one of the windows across the room. It was open and he could just make out the young redhead sitting outside with a book and pen in hand, unaware of his presence. He crossed the room and stepped onto the ledge that ran under the window.

"Hey," he said dragging her from her writing and she looked up at him in shock.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him, flipping her book closed and shifting so he could step out onto the balcony.

"I was walking by, thought I'd see what you were doing," he said, climbing out to join her, "When you didn't answer the door straight away I thought you might have called it a night, but then it opened…"

"I was thinking, I didn't even hear the chime," Dax admitted.

"The city can have a mind of its own sometimes," Sheppard grinned, "Especially if you have the gene."

"Another mutant gene. I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually," she said, with a trace of doubt in her voice.

"Quicker than you think," he assured her, "So how'd you end up with Lorne's team in the mess?"

"Major Lorne came by the infirmary and Keller asked him to make sure I ate something, it was the only way she'd let me leave," Dax explained.

"So you're ok?" he asked awkwardly, not really comfortable with this kind of conversation.

"Physically I'm fine. Just low blood-sugar. I don't eat breakfast, I skipped lunch and I'm willing to bet the two hours of sparring with Lorne didn't help," Dax shrugged, "Mentally I'm not sure. Just trying to work out what the hell I'm meant to do here."

"Lorne said you could go on an off-world team if that's what you wanted," Sheppard told her, leaning back against the balcony rail and looking out over the city, "Is that what you want, or would you prefer a lab job?"

"I don't know," Dax admitted, "I can't really imagine being stuck in a lab researching a single science, that was part of the reason I studied multiple specialties, but I don't see what good I'd do on an off-world team."

"You might be surprised," Sheppard shrugged, after all, he'd had requests from people with a lot less relevant scientific backgrounds for a place on a team, "How's the room?"

"A little sunny first thing in the morning," Dax laughed, "I really need some curtains."

"I'd be complaining about the lack of a real door onto the balcony," Sheppard pointed out, looking at the window they'd had to climb through.

"Yeah, there's that," Dax agreed, "But then I can pretty much be comfortable anywhere. I practically lived in my room at university, when I wasn't in lectures. I was never really the social type, and here… Well, I'm just still not totally sure where I fit in here. Everyone seems so…set in their associations I'm not sure who to talk to. I guess it'll be easier when I get an assignment."

"You might not be the 'social type'," Sheppard repeated awkwardly, "But you make an impression. Lorne sounded pretty impressed when we were talking earlier, despite the fact he could hardly move after sparring with you."

"I am sorry about that," Dax said sheepishly, "But I think his fondness just stems from the fact he met a civilian that didn't run screaming from the armoury and could actually shoot straight."

Sheppard chuckled at that, because it was probably true. It was part of the reason he disliked dealing with the new civilians. Most of them looked at the weapons as if they were about to jump up and bite them at any second, even after repeated training sessions. It had taken Rodney months before he could fire a 9mil without closing his eyes and flinching. Speaking of Rodney...

"You don't really seem too concerned that McKay doesn't like you," he remarked.

"I get the feeling Dr McKay doesn't like many people," Dax smiled, "But he'll complain about me for a while then ignore me."

"What makes you think that?" Sheppard asked, grinning at her fairly accurate assessment of his friend.

"If he ignores me he'll expect everyone to forget about me too," Dax said, "I've known people like that before. It's not as if I'll have an opportunity to work with him. He'll be able to forget about me in a week."

* * *

Sheppard stepped out onto the pier and pushed himself back into a run. He really wished that Ronon had actually bothered to show up for their morning run, but he could guess what had kept the Satedan busy. He didn't begrudge the guy his relationship, or any of his team theirs for that matter, but doing everything on his own was getting old really fast. He was halfway along the pier before he realised that someone was standing at the edge leaning against the rail. A short redheaded someone, wearing running shoes and sweats.

"I didn't realise you meant it," he commented as he halted beside her. Dax turned to regard him with a strange expression on her face.

"Didn't realise I meant what?" she asked.

"What you said about liking to run," Sheppard clarified as he leant against the rail, "I didn't realise you meant seriously."

"You thought I was one of those people who settles for a few minutes on a treadmill?" she suggested with a grin, then turned back to regarding the ocean, "Hardly. Though after three weeks on that ship I'm a little out of shape."

"That why you're just standing here?" Sheppard asked her.

"Not really. I was just remembering how much I used to enjoy swimming when I was a kid," Dax laughed shortly, "But I'm willing to bet it's too dangerous to swim anywhere around the city."

"I have no idea," Sheppard admitted with a shrug, "You could ask Lorne. He was on his High School swim team so if there's anywhere around the city it's safe to go in the water he'll know. Otherwise you'll have to wait for a trip to the mainland, there are some sweet beaches there."

"Lorne was on the swim team?" Dax laughed again.

"So he told me a while ago," Sheppard nodded, wondering why she found that so funny, "So what did you do in High School? Track?"

"We don't really call it High School in the UK," Dax pointed out, suddenly solemn, "And we don't have track teams, or swim teams or any of that stuff. At least not where I lived. We have football, hockey, and I played rugby. League, not Union; not that that'll mean anything to you."

"Rugby, that's kinda like football, right? We had it at the Academy, but I never paid much attention," Sheppard said studying her.

"I guess, if you're talking about American football, since what we call football you call soccer," Dax frowned, "Same shaped ball except without the laces, lots of running into each other, but without the helmets and padding."

"And you played it?" he stared at her incredulously.

"What? Because I'm short and a girl I shouldn't have been playing sports?" she snapped.

"I wouldn't say something like that," Sheppard shrugged, "But from I've seen here most people like you aren't that..."

"People like me?" Dax repeated coldly.

"Scientists," Sheppard clarified, "They don't tend to go in for the more physical hobbies."

"Most of them were... recommended by... people..." Dax shook her head, "I have to go."

Sheppard barely had time to register what she'd just said before she turned and sprinted away. He watched her leave, wondering what the hell had just happened. He sighed as he shoved off the rail and continued his run. Maybe one of his team would be around for breakfast and he'd have something better to occupy himself with.

Dax had managed to get a better grip on her emotions by the time she'd showered, dressed in her uniform and headed down to the mess hall. The run had helped take her mind off most of what had been troubling her through the night and preventing her from sleeping, until her almost-admission on the pier. Given that she'd already heard of the efficiency of the Atlantis rumour mill, she didn't really need people knowing that most of the physical activities she dedicated her spare time to were prescribed by therapists or anger management counsellors over the years.

Ordering herself to snap out of it, or at least do a better job of hiding her inner turmoil, she stepped into the sparsely occupied mess hall. She collected a mug of tea and an apple, or something similar to an apple at least, and sat down at an empty table.

"You're brave," a voice said.

Dax looked up from her 'breakfast' to find Sergeant Marks grinning down at her. She smiled and waved her hand in a vague gesture for him to join her.

"Why am I brave?" she asked as he sat.

"Eating the local food, and you've only been here a day," he said sipping his coffee.

"It tastes like mango," Dax observed, looking down at her half eaten fruit.

"Wishing you'd picked something else?" Marks asked her as he dug into the plate of bacon and eggs in front of him.

"No, I like mango. I just don't normally eat breakfast," Dax said with a frown, "But Keller says my diet is terrible so…"

"Well if you're joining the team you'll eat whenever you can," Marks laughed, "We go off-world often enough that missing a meal is a terrible idea. You should never be hungry enough to eat some of the stuff we're offered."

"Why are you so sure I'll be joining the team?" Dax asked curiously.

"Major Lorne brought you to meet us," Marks said, "We figure there must be a reason he wanted to introduce us to you, he must know something he's not letting on."

"I see," Dax mused.

"He said you were good at hand-to-hand?" Marks said.

"I have a purple belt in Brazilian Ju Jit-su," Dax explained, "And I did Thai Boxing and MMA for a few years."

"You should come to the gym at 1900, the Major trains some of us in staff fighting. He learned from Teal'c at the SGC," Marks smiled at her, "You can show us what you've got."

"You may regret it," Dax grinned.

"I doubt it," Marks laughed.

"Ok, I'll be there," Dax agreed, feeling like she might find somewhere to fit in after all.

From the mess, Dax made her way up to the control room. She had an appointment to see Woolsey that morning before she did anything else. A technician with the Canadian flag on his jacket, who introduced himself as Chuck, told her Woolsey was still in a meeting with one of the teams. She settled down to wait, leaning against the console.

"So, any ideas on where you're going to end up yet?" Chuck asked her.

"Nope," she said with a wry smile, "I don't even know what I'm doing today until I talk to Woolsey."

"That's disappointing," Chuck sighed.

"Why?" Dax asked, sure there was more going on here than simple curiosity.

"Chuck runs the betting pools here," another tech informed her from one of the other consoles.

"Really?" Dax asked with interest, "So you don't have anything better to take bets on than where I'll end up? What's the favourite?"

"Ah, an off-world team seems to be a popular option," Chuck admitted, "Major Lorne's or possibly Major Teldy's since she has a penchant for requesting brilliant women for her team."

"Thanks," Dax beamed at the compliment, then her expression turned speculative, "So, do you take bets on other stuff?"

"Like what?" Chuck asked uncomfortably.

"Oh come on," Dax said in a low voice, "A place like this? You must take bets on people's personal lives."

"It's been known to happen," Chuck admitted.

"So you know most of the gossip?" Dax asked.

"Anything you've heard about Colonel Sheppard is likely to be true," Chuck assured her quietly, "People like to say he's something akin to our very own Captain Kirk."

"I was actually going to ask about Major Lorne," Dax said.

"You're probably wasting your time," Chuck told her, "Either he's managed to find someone impossibly discreet, or he's celibate. The general thinking is that he left someone behind back on Earth."

"That wasn't why... thanks Chuck," Dax sighed. She chatted with the tech for a few more minutes, hoping it would distract him from speculating too much about her interest in Lorne, but knowing it was unlikely. The conversation was cut off by Woolsey returning to his office and signalling her to follow him.

"So, Dr Davis, how are you settling in?" the leader of Atlantis asked as he settled in the chair behind his desk.

"Fine," Dax assured him as she sat down, studying the office. The things people chose to display in places like this had always fascinated her. They said so much about a person. The fact that Woolsey's office was covered in certificates and diplomas, with only one photograph of a dog, told her that his life was all about his career. He'd probably been seeking some sense of validation through his job for years.

"Major Lorne's report on your training says that you're proficient enough in weapons usage and self-defence to go off-world after you have your basic survival training. It says here he'd be comfortable recommending you for a 'gate team," Woolsey said as he studied his computer, "Nothing from Dr McKay about which of the departments he'd recommend you for."

"That's not so surprising sir," Dax offered, "I think Dr McKay is trying to forget I'm here. Colonel Sheppard discovering I have the Ancient gene didn't endear me to him any."

"Yes, I heard about that," Woolsey mused, "You'll have to be tested for your Chair Interface Affinity. I believe Dr Zelenka can do that if what you say about McKay is true. While McKay may be ignoring your arrival, most of our other Department Heads are not. Dr Klein, from Archaeo-anthropology has requested you for her department, as has Dr Walker from Exobiology, and there's also been a suggestion from Dr Keller that your expertise in the field of genetics may be of great benefit to one of our medical researchers."

"You realise that I'm a PhD, not an MD?" Dax said faintly since it was the only thing she could think of having been confronted with the sudden demand for her. It was unprecedented in her life up to this point.

"I am aware of that," Woolsey agreed, "And I understand that this may be a little overwhelming. You can have some time to consider your options before we discuss your assignment. I'll inform Colonel Sheppard to have your training completed so you can be off-world ready, and I'll allow you to continue working with Dr Jackson for the time being. All the Heads of the relevant departments will be available to you over the next week to answer any of your questions and show you what they're working on. And I'm sure that Colonel Sheppard can arrange for you to join a mission off-world if you feel the need. We can talk about this further next week."

"Thank you sir," Dax managed to stammer before she left the office in a daze. She was still struggling to wrap her head around the situation by the time she made it back to the lab Daniel was working out of. She'd been down to the mess to claim another mug of tea for herself and still beaten the archaeologist to the lab. Although it was still quite early, she reflected as she brought the lights and computers to life with a wave of her hand. She'd noticed that most of the scientists here seemed to be almost nocturnal.

She sat down in front of the Ancient database terminal and it sprang happily to life. For the sake of appearances she managed to locate several files relevant to Daniel's research and sent them to his computer before calling up the information on the enzyme secreting vine she'd been reading the day before. She had some theories about uses for the enzyme but she was going to need more information, and to see if the damned thing was still around since the database was 10,000 years old.

She hadn't got very far when the door opened to admit Daniel, who was trying not to drop the stack of books he was carrying in one arm, a task made harder by the pot of coffee taking up the other hand. Dax slid down from her stool and hurried around to help him, taking guardianship of the books before they fell to the floor.

"Thanks," he sighed, setting down the coffee before frowning at her, "Why are you here?"

"I'm one of those odd people who can get up in a morning?" she suggested brightly as she began to lay out the books, "I came here after my meeting with Woolsey."

"I didn't mean why are you here so early," Daniel clarified, "I meant why are you _here_, in my lab, instead of in your own?"

"Well that's simple enough," Dax replied, "I don't have my own lab. Not for another week at least."

"Why not?" Daniel demanded.

"Because that's how long Woolsey's given me to think about what I want to do here," Dax shook her head in disbelief, "And amazingly I think I may need all that time."

"Why is that amazing?" Daniel asked with a frown.

"I don't take that long to make decisions," Dax shook her head, "Do you remember how long I thought about whether or not to sign up to come here knowing absolutely nothing about what I was getting into?"

"All of about 30 seconds," Daniel recalled, "I thought you were just really desperate for a job."

"Well I kinda was," Dax laughed, "But still…"

"So, what do you want to do?" Daniel asked.

"What do you suggest? Is it a good job, going off-world?" Dax asked.

"It's the most amazing job, but there will be times you'll wish you were stuck in a lab instead," Daniel said ruefully looking down at his notes.

"I guess no matter what I decide I'll regret it at some point," Dax mused as she sat down, "I'll go look around some of the labs later."

She turned her attention back to the file on the Ancient terminal, wondering if she actually needed to collect samples and run tests to confirm her hypothesis. She read all the files she could find that concerned the enzyme-vine although a lot of it was botany related and she only understood half of it. The most irritating thing was that the Ancient scientists hadn't completed their analysis of the biochemical properties of the enzyme. She sighed unhappily and leaned back from the computer.

Daniel was gone. She frowned in confusion and looked at her watch. It was 1530 hours, past midday and hours since she started work on this. She couldn't believe she'd lost time like that, again. She wondered if it was something to do with the Ancient computer.

"Am I interrupting?" Lorne asked poking his head in the door and seeing Dax staring at one of the Ancient terminals. He'd had a slow morning of paperwork and felt the need for a change of scenery. Anything was better than his office if Sheppard wasn't around to improve the view.

"Not so much," she said with a roll of her eyes, "What can I do for you?"

"I ran into Dr Jackson in the mess and he said you didn't look like you were going to be leaving the lab any time soon," Lorne said stepping into the room and producing a tray as the door slid closed behind him, "Since I doubted you'd want to end up in the infirmary again I brought you lunch."

"You really didn't have to do that," Dax told him, then smiled as he approached, "But I'm not going to say no to some company. Pull up a chair."

Lorne put the tray down on her desk and pulled over one of the spare chairs from the side of the room. As he sat down he glanced up at the screen. It was covered in a mess of open files all in Ancient. He wasn't particularly skilled with the language and couldn't begin to guess what it said.

"You don't even bother to translate this stuff?" he asked gesturing to the screen.

"Not really," Dax shrugged as she examined the sandwiches on the tray, "It doesn't save that much time."

"What is it?" Lorne asked curiously.

"Ah, the Ancients' research into a vine that secretes a weird enzyme," Dax said looking up at the offending data, "I though the enzyme might have a medical application, but their scientists never finished their analysis, so if I want to prove my theory I'll need to run my own tests."

"A weird enzyme?" Lorne asked with a grin, "Is that the technical term?

"What, you expect me to reel off all the science so I can watch your eyes glaze over?" Dax grinned.

"So you think this enzyme could be useful, medically?" Lorne prompted, surprised because that's exactly what he'd come to expect from the scientists in Atlantis.

"I need to run tests to be sure," she shrugged, "Assuming I can get permission."

"Colonel Sheppard says Woolsey wants your training finished so you can go off-world," Lorne said, repeating what he'd been told earlier.

"He told me the same thing this morning," Dax nodded.

Daniel returned to the lab some time later to find Dax and Major Lorne sitting at her desk deep in conversation. He blinked several times in surprise as he realised they were so focused on whatever they were talking about they hadn't even noticed his arrival.

"Dax, Major Lorne," he said by way of greeting.

"Hi Daniel," Dax smiled looking over at him.

"Dr Jackson," Lorne said standing up, "I guess that's my cue to leave. I'll see you later Dax."

"Yeah, bye," Dax nodded as he wandered out of the lab.

"He seems quite taken with you," Daniel observed.

"Yeah, right," Dax said scornfully, "It has nothing to do with the fact you sent him to bring me lunch."

"I didn't," Daniel said with a smile, even though he had mentioned Dax's focused behaviour to Lorne, he hadn't made any suggestions.

"Whatever," Dax rolled her eyes, "He's not interested in me Daniel. I'm certain."

"Really? I must be seeing something different to you," Daniel grinned.

"Obviously," Dax retorted dryly, "I'm pretty sure Lorne doesn't really like women."

"Dax! You can't say things like that!" Daniel protested sounding a little more scandalised than he would have liked to admit.

"God, sometimes you Americans can be such prudes. And we're supposed to be the ones who are backwards and repressed," Dax shook her head.

"This is serious," Daniel said grimly, "You can't say things like that. He's an Air Force officer, accusations like that could land him in trouble."

"I'm confused," Dax frowned.

"People with a liking for the same sex aren't allowed to serve in the US military," Daniel explained uncomfortably, since he didn't particularly agree with that policy, "Dishonourable discharge, prison, that kind of thing."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Dax exclaimed staring at him in disbelief, "That's absurd!"

"You didn't know this," Daniel stated, that much being clear from her reaction.

"Why would I?" Dax asked, "I'm from the UK Daniel. Our military policy is more enlightened than that."

"Lucky you," Daniel murmured, "Just be careful what you say Dax. You haven't discussed your theory about Lorne with anyone else have you?"

"No, I haven't," Dax huffed, "You could have warned me about this Daniel."

"Well if I'd known you were going to accuse the military second-in-command of being gay…" Daniel said.

"I didn't accuse," Dax countered, "And you'll have to excuse me if I don't think it's something to be ashamed of!"

"Dax…are you…" Daniel paused to consider his choice of words, "I mean, I thought you were… the way you act with Lorne, and the guys on the _Daedalus_?"

"So the two are mutually exclusive now are they?" Dax asked irritably.

She stormed out of the lab with a computer tablet under her arm and rage written clearly on her face. Daniel stared after her in disbelief. He hadn't suspected that Dax might be anything other than straight, but her reaction to his remarks suggested that he'd assumed wrong. He had to wonder if he'd spent too long around the military, even as a rebellious and incessantly curious part of his brain demanded he consider the redhead's assessment of Lorne rather than her behaviour.

"You called me in here for this?" Sheppard demanded as he looked down at the small, unknown and unimpressive looking Ancient device sitting on McKay's desk. He couldn't believe Rodney had called him away from his work for something so trivial. Ok, so maybe he hadn't really been working, but that wasn't the point.

"Will you just turn the damned thing on?" McKay snapped.

"What is it?" Sheppard asked.

"I don't know!" McKay shouted, "That's why I need you to turn it on, so I can see what it does!"

"Why did you need me to help you?" Sheppard demanded, "Couldn't you get Zelenka down here?"

"I needed someone with the Ancient gene, since it's Ancient tech!" the Canadian snapped.

"_You_ have the Ancient gene McKay!" Sheppard pointed out, picking up the device and trying to think it on.

"Yes, but I can't try to activate the thing and take power readings at the same time!" McKay countered.

"It's not working," Sheppard announced, putting the device back on the table.

"You're not even trying!" McKay scowled.

"Would now be a good time for me to interrupt?" Dax asked stepping into the lab.

"Yes!" Sheppard exclaimed in relief even as McKay yelled "No!"

Dax simply stood there with her hands resting on her hips, staring from one from one to the other with her head cocked to one side while she waited for them to argue themselves out. She ignored McKay's scowling, just looking back blandly.

"I am trying to do important research here!" McKay snapped, "Why are you interrupting?"

"This news just in from Galileo; you are not the centre of the universe," Dax told McKay. Sheppard let out a snort of laughter at that, earning him a glare from his friend. He sighed wearily.

"Rodney stop being such a pain in the ass," Sheppard growled, "What can I do for you Dax? I assume you were looking for me and not McKay."

"What on Earth gave you that idea?" Dax asked dryly, then frowned, "Or should that be on New Lantea?"

"Just a hunch," Sheppard said, supposing that the last part was rhetorical.

"I'm wanting to look into something I found on the Ancient database," Dax said, "Since I won't be getting an assignment for at least a week, I was hoping to be allowed to go off-world at some point to collect samples. This is a list of planets…"

Sheppard didn't see the harm so he took the tablet and scrolled through the list. It contained the alpha-numeric designations they used to identify planets, and there had to be at least 30 of them on the list.

"M4X-332 is on this list," he observed after studying it for a minute.

"Huh?" Dax shook her head.

"Parrish and Stevens are going there in two days," Sheppard said. He only remembered because he'd been forced to stick Lorne with the mission and he felt kind of guilty about inflicting the botanist on his 2iC.

"The settlement on 332 is only a few hundred years old," McKay said, looking over at Dax, "You won't find any interesting bits of Ancient pottery there."

"And if that was what I was looking for, that'd be a problem," Dax countered, "But since this is biochem research…"

"I was planning to have Lorne do your basic survival when he came back from 332," Sheppard interrupted with a sigh as he looked over the list Dax had given him again.

"Ok," Dax shrugged in acceptance.

"No…"Sheppard frowned, "It's easier to have you join the mission to 332. I'll…have Lorne do your training before the mission and then you can tag along with Stevens and Parrish."

"If you're sure," Dax said, "I don't want to put anyone out."

"Then you shouldn't have walked in here in the first place," McKay growled. Dax turned and scowled at him before stalking over to the table. She stared at him blandly, before deliberately picking up the device that McKay had wanted Sheppard to activate. McKay spluttered as she turned it over curiously and she closed her eyes. It was only a moment before the device flashed into life and she looked down at it.

"How did you do that?" McKay demanded, snatching the now glowing device out of her hands.

"I have no idea," Dax admitted looking confused by her own actions.

"Huh, looks like the city might have a new favourite person Sheppard," McKay said in an absent tone as he examined the device.

"Great," Sheppard said, "If it gets me out of light-switch duty I can live with that."

"Oh no," McKay shook his head furiously, "No."

"Like you said, the Ancient tech seems to like her more than me. I couldn't get that thing to work, whatever it is," Sheppard waved his hand to the glowing device. Dax smiled, clearly enjoying watching Sheppard make fun of McKay. He looked over at her and grinned.

"I'll talk to Lorne," he told her before looking back at McKay, "So if you need any other Ancient devices turned on you'll call Dax, right?"

"No! No! _Sheppard_!"

Dax laughed out loud as McKay spluttered furiously at Sheppard's retreating back. She should have followed him out of the lab, but she was busy chuckling. McKay glared at her as he sat back down at his desk. He picked up the device and raised his eyebrows at her.

"Why are you still here?" he demanded.

"Do you need my help with that?" she offered politely, nodding to the device.

"No," he said looking at her as if she was mad.

"It was just a thought," she said holding up her hands in surrender before she headed out of the lab.

Just before 1900 hours Lorne was in one of the gyms with his team. They were wearing sweats and USMC t-shirts and were supposed to be warming up before training, though it looked more like they were just messing around. He was beginning to wonder how he'd got stuck with these guys when the door hissed open and Dax stepped in with an uncertain expression on her face. She was dressed in white gi bottoms and a black vest that proclaimed **Sparring: It's better than therapy**. A kit bag was slung over her shoulder and her hair was back in its ragged ponytail. Marks, Kagan and Coughlin greeted her enthusiastically and her frown faded.

"Hey Dax!" Kagan beamed, "Marks said you were going to join us."

"I make a point of not turning down a chance to roll around with muscular guys," Dax joked, eyeing them up and down in an exaggerated manner as they whistled and cat-called in response.

"I'm not about to pass up this opportunity either," Kagan grinned coming up behind her and slinging and arm around her in what might have passed for a friendly gesture if not for the wicked look on his face. Dax laughed, even as she dropped her weight, grabbing Kagan's ankle by reaching back between her own and pulling forward. Kagan yelped in surprise as he fell backwards, smacking the floor hard. Dax looked down at him, he'd let go of her almost as soon as his balance shifted and she'd stayed on her feet.

"I think I warned you about her Kagan," Lorne drawled as he smirked down at the young man.

"I guess I should have listened sir," Kagan gasped as he sat up.

"Yeah, you should learn from Lorne's mistakes," Dax told Kagan quietly as she hauled him to his feet.

"Thank you Dax, I heard that," Lorne told her dryly, "You can spar hand-to-hand for warm-up before we get to the staff-fighting."

"So who's first?" she asked with a grin.


	4. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer_: I still don't own Atlantis. I don't even own my own internet connection.

_Pairings_: Sheppard/Lorne

_Author's Note_: I apologise for the wait between chapters, not only did I not have access to the internet, but this chapter was being evil to rewrite. In fact, I hate it. It's still terrible, and far shorter than my others, but I can't stand to look at it anymore, so I'm giving up and posting it. Please don't leave a review to tell me how bad it is, I already know and I promise I'll try to do better with the next one. But thanks to everyone who reviewed or added this to alerts or favourites.

_Warning:_Minor character death

Chapter 3

Lorne glance out of the window at the ocean for the dozenth time since he sat down in front of his laptop. He had a report to write for Woolsey and Sheppard, and he doubted it would be well received. By Woolsey at least, he doubted Sheppard would care, except maybe about the damage to the Jumper. Lorne winced. Sheppard would definitely care about _that. _

After the sparring session with his team the day before, he'd had orders to take the new scientist for her basic survival training on the Mainland. It was nothing he hadn't done for new personnel in the past, though he wished he'd skipped this one. The first annoyance had come when they got to the Jumper Bay to find that Zelenka was messing around with Lorne's preferred Jumper, so he'd been forced to take out one of the less used ones. Which, as it turned out, hadn't been such a bad choice.

Given that everyone with the gene was given Jumper training eventually, he'd not seen anything wrong with letting her try it. Dax had _not_ missed her calling as a pilot. She was terrible. When she'd told him she never learnt to drive a car because she tended to crash, he'd thought she was joking. But no matter what he'd said or how he explained that the Jumper required a certain amount of give and take to fly there was no improvement. And he'd experienced smoother landings in ejection training.

He sighed heavily. He knew he needed to complete his report, but he was more concerned with how Sheppard was going to react when he saw the ship. Zelenka had assured Lorne that it looked worse than it was, but his CO was unnaturally attached to those ships. It may have been a little excessive for him to spend the night on the Mainland staring at the damage and worrying that Sheppard was going to kill him, but he wasn't looking forward to that conversation.

**Atlantis. September 2009 **

Sheppard paced uneasily along the halls of the city. He'd already been for his run that morning, alone, again, but he was still feeling on edge. He couldn't figure out quite what had him so restless since they got back to Pegasus. He thought he would feel better once the city was back where it belonged, but there was still something bothering him. It was more obvious to him now that his usual methods of distraction weren't as readily available. Sparring with Teyla or Ronon didn't offer much chance for worrying about anything else.

His unfocused wandering took him into the mess hall and over to the serving line. He poured himself a cup of coffee and looked around, feeling a strange desire to sigh when he realised his team were nowhere to be seen. It wasn't as if he'd spent every meal with his team, but usually one of them had been around. Now it seemed like he was always on his own and it made him feel slightly uncomfortable. He couldn't credit the idea that he was lonely, because he'd spent most of his life trying to get as far away from people as possible. Just when had that started to change? When had he become someone who craved company?

He spotted Lorne sitting alone at the table they'd shared on a number of occasions while the city was on Earth and made his way over. The younger man was staring out of the window, clearly worrying over something. Sheppard had spent enough time with him over the years to recognise it, Lorne didn't really hide his emotions.

"Mind if I join you Lorne?" he asked, startling the other man into looking up at him warily.

"Of course sir," Lorne said a little stiffly, gesturing to the seat opposite him. Sheppard frowned slightly but sat down anyway.

"So we're back to that are we?" he asked, earning him a confused look, so he clarified, "The 'sir' thing. I thought you were over that."

"Given the circumstances it seemed like a good idea," Lorne murmured, glancing down at the table to avoid meeting Sheppard's eye. Sheppard's frown deepened as he tried to work out why Lorne looked like he expected to be assigned punishment duty for the next three months. It didn't make any sense, especially since he hadn't seen Lorne for more than a minute since the day after he got back from the Mainland and reported about the damaged Puddle Jumper.

Lorne was acting about as nervous now as he had during that conversation, not that Sheppard could work out why. Ok, so when he'd been pissed about Daniel Jackson's pet scientist crashing one of the ships, but he didn't blame Lorne. The Jumpers got damaged on a semi-regular basis, and Zelenka said it could be fixed without too much trouble. Besides, it was difficult to be mad at his XO when he hadn't looked so contrite since he told Sheppard about getting the _Orion_ blasted out of the sky.

"Are you still worrying about the Jumper Lorne?" he asked, "You didn't crash the thing, let it go."

"I was responsible..." Lorne began.

"I said let it go," Sheppard repeated, almost smiling at the man's stubborn insistence on blaming himself for something he didn't do. He held Lorne's gaze for a moment, until Lorne finally nodded in agreement.

"Good," Sheppard said, "Besides, I think the science trip you're taking out later will be punishment enough."

"Thanks for the reminder," Lorne said dryly.

"Sorry," Sheppard shrugged unapologetically, although he did feel bad for inflicting the scientists on his friend.

"I doubt anyone would have volunteered for it," Lorne rolled his eyes and Sheppard smirked, "It's a very short list of people who can be around Parrish for any length of time without shooting him."

"I still feel like I should owe you a beer when you get back," Sheppard mused.

"If you insist," Lorne grinned after a moment of consideration. Sheppard grinned in response, feeling better in that moment than he had in several days. They fell into easy conversation until it came time for Lorne to get ready for his mission, when John accompanied him as he collected his gear and weapons, then wandered up to the 'gate room to meet his team.

They found Lorne's team already waiting for them in front of the stargate, along with two of the three scientists they were meant to be taking off-world. Dr Stevens was checking the myriad of sample cases around her, while Dax laughed quietly with Kagan and Coughlin scowled at them disapprovingly.

"Sir," Marks greeted them with a nod, "Unsurprisingly, Parrish is late, again."

"Every time we go off-world," Kagan said rolling his eyes.

Lorne sighed, knowing there was nothing he could do to hasten the botanist's arrival, and frankly, he was in too good a mood to want to ruin it so soon. He was back in Sheppard's good graces after the incident -though he wasn't sure he fancied the chances of a certain redhead- and the stress he'd been carrying around the last few days had melted away. They were discussing the week's upcoming missions when Parrish finally arrived in the 'gate room and they exchanged a long-suffering look.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," Parrish said as he fluttered around Lorne's team, "I left the lab and realised I hadn't brought sufficient sample containers, there are a number of _Betula uber _on M4X-332 that I really should collect…"

"Betula what-a?" Coughlin asked shaking his head in bafflement.

"Virginia Round-leaf birch, thought to be extinct until recently," Parrish said, "It's now listed as critically endangered but still..."

"Yeah, we really don't care doc," Sheppard remarked. Lorne fought down a smile at the look on Parrish's face, then turned his attention to watching the chevrons on the 'gate lighting up. He barely glanced at the scientists gathering up all the bags and cases they always seemed to need for some mysterious reason. He really thought that the biologists should invest some time on developing some kind of beast of burden for the science teams. Maybe something between a pack-mule and a Great Dane.

"Lorne, you have a go," Sheppard said, breaking him out of his fanciful musings.

"Yes sir," he nodded, signalling absently for his team to precede him, "Let's go."

Marks and Kagan took point while Coughlin helped the scientists with their gear. He cast a glance around the 'gate room as they approached the gate, catching a final glimpse of Sheppard watching them before he stepped through the 'gate. He stepped through the event horizon and was engulfed in the familiar tingling chill, then it was gone and he was standing in the sunshine on another planet. There were trees on either side of the gate, forming a corridor that lead towards the settlement, and the team had fanned out to check the immediate area.

"This place never makes sense to me," Kagan remarked as he looked around, "Don't they realise that clearing this path through the trees makes it easier for the Wraith darts to reach the settlement?"

"But if the people here use the 'gate to trade they probably need easy access to it as well," Dax offered, then ducked her head as people turned to look at her. Since the incident on the Mainland the redhead had been withdrawn and quiet, hardly speaking to anyone and spending most of her time locked in the lab or her quarters.

"Ok, Kagan, Marks, you're watching the 'gate, Coughlin why don't you give the settlement a quick courtesy visit, Parrish, Stevens, Dax collect your samples, don't go wandering off too far and try to stay out of trouble," Lorne said heavily. He was already getting the feeling that this would be a long few hours and he wanted it done with as soon as possible. The fact that he had plans with John had nothing to do with it.

The scientists collected their equipment and drifted off in various directions, and he began his first circuit of the area around the 'gate. While normally he would have assigned one of his team to each scientist, this was a friendly world that they visited for research often enough that he didn't feel the need to inflict that particular torture on his men. He knew they'd thank him for it.

He set off walking, circling the area around the 'gate just to keep an eye on things. He ran into Dr Stevens just as he was working his way back towards the Stargate.

"Hey doc, how's it going?" Lorne called out as he approached.

"Oh! Major, you startled me," the woman exclaimed. Lorne smiled slightly and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Scientists could be so clueless.

"Sorry doc," he said, "You found anything interesting?"

"Oh yes actually!" the woman beamed, "I just picked up this. Isn't he a beauty?"

The scientist turned, holding out her hand, on which was the most enormous cockroach he'd had ever seen. It was the size of the woman's palm and a blackish-red, and Lorne grimaced as he reared back slightly in distaste.

"That's... real nice doc," he frowned. Stevens sighed as she picked up a jar for the creature.

"Dr Davis didn't seem very taken with him either," she said absently, "I think she might be entomophobic."

"What?" Lorne shook his head.

"Afraid of insects," Stevens clarified, still focusing on the task of cataloguing the bug she was so interested in.

"Right..." he said slowly.

"I don't understand it, personally," Stevens continued as she scribbled in her notebook.

"What a surprise," Lorne murmured. The woman didn't notice the sarcasm in his tone, not that he was particularly surprised. She was busy talking to herself as she continued to write her notes and barely spared him a glance. He shook his head in disbelief.

"I'll be back later doc," he told Stevens, turning and walking away before she could start some undoubtedly fascinating lecture about the new and interesting bugs she'd found here in Pegasus. Of course, fascinating was a relative term, especially with scientists he'd discovered.

It wasn't long before he ran into Parrish and Dax. Or rather, he heard them and stopped out of sight when he recognised the sound of the botanist's voice. Ridiculous and childish behaviour for a grown man, let alone a trained military officer, but there was no-one there to see him essentially hiding from the irritating scientist. So he leant back against a tree and listened to the voices drifting to him. It wasn't just that Parrish was irritating, there was something unnerving about the way the botanist tended to stare at him.

The two scientists were talking about some plant that Parrish was taking cuttings off for the redhead, and as was fairly typical of the scientific conversations in the city Lorne only understood every fifth word. Basically the gist seemed to be that whatever Dax wanted the plant for, it would need to be grown in the botany labs first. Lorne was just considering whether he should leave them to it or go and check in with them while they were preoccupied when Parrish wandered passed him. Lorne waited for a moment before he stepped out from his concealment and wandered over to join Dax.

"Find what you were looking for?" he asked, startling her slightly though he could see she tried to hide it.

"It wasn't difficult," she replied, keeping her eyes locked on the equipment she was busy packing away.

"You had Parrish help you?"

"He's kinda irritating but I kill plants just by being in the same vicinity so it seemed prudent," Dax shrugged, finally glancing at him over her shoulder.

"I checked in with Dr Stevens a few minutes ago," he mentioned, and this time Dax's flinch was clear as day.

"And she told you I ran screaming when she showed me her new pet?" she shook her head, "Like crashing that Puddle Jumper wasn't embarrassing enough now she's going to tell everyone about my phobia?"

"How does that even work?" Lorne asked curiously, "I mean, fear of bugs?"

"By definition a phobia is an irrational fear," Dax said defensively, "It's not meant to make sense. And I would have been fine, except I wasn't expecting to have a cockroach the size of a Yorkie shoved in my face. I wish I'd known that Dr Stevens was an entomologist, I would have avoided her."

Lorne shook his head in disbelief, then paused, cocking his head to the side slightly as a familiar sound reached his ears. Dax straightened up slowly and frowned.

"Was that the 'gate?" she asked.

"Kagan, Marks? Report," Lorne called clicking his radio.

There was no response, at least not that he could hear. There was a high-pitched whining drone, that drowned out everything else. The sound turned into a screaming as it got louder. Lorne winced as he recognised the sound, bringing his weapon up reflexively.

"Is that..?" Dax looked over at him, her eyes wide with panic and fear.

"Darts," he nodded grimly.

"Wonderful," Dax said weakly.

Lorne turned and headed back through the trees towards the 'gate, waving for Dax to stay behind him. They reached the tree line in under a minute, and crouched out of sight, watching the Wraith ships come through the 'gate. The darts flew straight down the corridor of trees towards the settlement.

"Culling?" Dax asked in a choked voice and Lorne nodded painfully. They had just watched three darts fly out of the 'gate to the village, there weren't enough of them to make any difference against the Wraith. All they could do was get their people and go home, and bring a team back to help any survivors later, if they'd accept the assistance. He could see Kagan from where they were, he was on the floor to the side of the 'gate and he wasn't moving. There was no sign of Marks, Coughlin, Stevens or Parrish.

"We have to find Parrish and Stevens," Lorne said quietly, gesturing towards the opposite side of the 'gate where the other scientist had been working.

"Radio?" Dax asked.

"They aren't answering," Lorne said, straightening up. He glanced down when he realised that the young redhead hadn't moved. She was still crouched behind the cover of a tree and he could see her trembling faintly. He suddenly realised there was no way she was going anywhere. With a sigh he pulled the 9mil out of his thigh holster and held it out to her.

"You stay here," he told her as she accepted it with shaking hands and a confused expression, "If any Wraith come this way, shoot them."

With that he turned and disappeared into the trees, muttering under his breath about the stupidity of scientists. He made his way around behind the 'gate, using the trees as cover. It only took him minutes to locate Dr Stevens. She hadn't moved very far from where she'd been when he ran into her earlier, and she was crouched by one of the trees doing a pretty poor job of hiding. She didn't notice him until he was right next to her and then he had to clamp a hand over her mouth to stop her screaming and giving away their position to the Wraith.

"Major Lorne," she exclaimed in relief when he let her go.

"Have you seen Parrish?" he asked in a whisper and the woman shook her head, "I need to find him."

"What about Dr Davis?" Stevens whispered.

"She's in the trees on the opposite side of the clearing," Lorne told her, "She'd got cover and a 9mil, she'll be fine."

He hoped that Dax would manage to look after herself if the need arose; this wasn't exactly being thrown in at the deep end, but it was as close as made no difference for a civilian, and she'd looked pretty terrified. He signalled for Stevens to follow him, and sighed in exasperation when she started to gather up her numerous cases. Impatiently he waved for her to leave them behind and started off through the trees. They hadn't gone far when there was a flash of movement up ahead. Lorne took cover behind a tree and brought up his P-90, scanning the area in front of them.

"Major?" a voice called softly.

"Coughlin," Lorne sighed in relief and lowered his gun as the Marine stepped into view.

"I heard your radio call on the way back from the village and took cover just as the Wraith came passed," Coughlin reported in a hushed voice, "They didn't see me."

"Good, have you seen Parrish?" Lorne asked.

"No sir," Coughlin shook his head, "Where…"

Whatever he'd been about to ask Lorne never found out. There was a burst of weapons fire, followed by the sound of Wraith stunners. Without any need to communicate Lorne and Coughlin took off running towards the 'gate, their weapons raised. Lorne barely even registered peripheral sensations as they ran, all his focus on reaching the source of the gunshots.

When they got close enough to see what was happening, they found Parrish cowering under the DHD, with one of the Wraith injured on the ground while four of the warrior Wraith had their backs to them. They were firing stunners into the trees where Lorne had left Dax. There were more shots and Lorne and Coughlin raised their weapons to take out the Wraith left standing. It took the drones a moment to register the new threat and turn the stunners towards Lorne and Coughlin, forcing the two men to take cover behind trees as they fired.

When all the Wraith were down, including the one that had been injured when they arrived and got up again, there was silence for a few moments. Parrish was the first to move, scrambling to his feet, dusting off his clothes and staring at the dead Wraith. There was movement in the trees and Dax stumbled into view, the gun Lorne had given her pointing unsteadily at the unmoving bodies, her shaking visible even from across the clearing.

"Thank you Major, you..." Parrish was saying breathlessly, though he trailed off, looking around in confusion.

"Over here doc," Lorne said as he and Coughlin stepped into the clearing, with Dr Stevens following along behind him, "Dax?"

"I...uh..." she shook her head, pale and visibly shaking as she stared down at the weapon in her hand.

"Coughlin, make sure those things are dead," Lorne ordered, quickly stepping over and reclaiming his gun from the silent redhead. He headed toward the 'gate, looking for Marks, knowing he had to be there somewhere, but dreading what he might find. Coughlin made quick work of checking the Wraith before he moved on to where Kagan had fallen. He knelt and felt the younger man's neck for a pulse, calling the lieutenant's name, just as Lorne found Marks. Or what was left of him.

Feeling sick, Lorne knelt beside the body. He took a shaky breath, trying not to let his emotions overwhelm him. As happened all too frequently, he had a flashback to the Unas planet, where they had lost a member of the team and found his body strung up, horribly mutilated as a warning to them. His stomach roiled and he fought against the urge to vomit, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. He could vaguely hear Coughlin talking to Kagan as he looked back down at his dead team member and tried to focus on that as he did what he had to.

"Are you ok? Any shooting pains in your head, neck? Anywhere?" Coughlin was asking.

"Ah…I don't know," Kagan groaned, "I feel kinda dizzy and everything looks fuzzy."

"It sounds like you have a concussion Lieutenant," Coughlin told him, "What happened?"

"I moved up to flank the 'gate when it activated," Kagan muttered, "When the first Dart came through I dived out of the way. I must have hit my head."

"Well at least you didn't hit anything important," Coughlin teased, but there was a heaviness in his voice that undermined the attempt at humour.

Lorne hauled himself to his feet after covering Marks' body. If they were able to do so safely, a team would be sent back to retrieve it so he could be sent home for a military funeral. If not… He glanced down at the dog tags in his hand that felt like they weighed more than a planet. If they couldn't send back the body, all Marks' family would get would be those tags, maybe a medal, and no explanation about how he'd died. He resolutely put the tags in a pocket of his vest and looked over to Coughlin and Kagan.

"Come on," Coughlin said hauling his teammate to his feet, "We need to get you back to the city."

"Anything you say," Kagan agreed, as he stumbled around the 'gate leaning heavily against the other man.

"Kagan," Lorne said with relief, "Good to see you're still with us."

"Yes sir," Kagan agreed, looking around with unfocused eyes, "Sergeant Marks?"

Lorne closed his eyes for a moment so he wouldn't have to see the hopefully expectant look on the young Marine's face, then he shook his head slowly. His eyes were magnetically drawn towards the covered body at the other side of the 'gate.

"Fed on?" Kagan asked grimly.

Lorne nodded again as Parrish dialled the DHD and the 'gate flashed into life. He turned and entered a code on his GDO, sending it through the 'gate to Atlantis.

"Let's go," he said shortly, gesturing for them to precede him. Parrish didn't need any more encouragement, practically throwing himself and the sample cases he was carrying into the active wormhole. Stevens went a little more slowly, a guiding arm around the shoulders of a blank-faced Dax, followed by Coughlin still supporting Kagan. Lorne took one final glance at Marks' body, feeling the bile rising in his throat again before he stepped through the 'gate.

Sheppard was loitering around in the control room, trying to look busy without actually doing anything when the alarms for an unscheduled 'gate activation went off. He looked expectantly at Chuck, who was seated at the console.

"Receiving Major Lorne's IDC," the Canadian tech reported.

"Let them in," Sheppard ordered, already bolting for the stairs, a feeling of unease in the pit of his stomach.

"Major! What happened?" he demanded as they stepped out of the 'gate. Coughlin was supporting Kagan, and the scientists were clustered together, but he was more focused on Lorne, who had blood running down the side of his face, and looked far from his usual self. The sinking feeling increased at the sight of his XO.

"Wraith," Lorne said shortly, in a dead voice, "We assumed they turned up to cull the planet."

"Where's Sergeant Marks?" Sheppard asked looking around. Lorne pulled something out of his vest pocket and held it out to Sheppard. Sheppard could feel himself pale as he took the tags. He only just managed to stop himself reaching out to touch Lorne, he just couldn't stand to see him look so defeated.

"Kagan was hurt sir," Lorne said dully, "We couldn't bring Marks back as well."

"I understand," Sheppard said softly. It wasn't an easy thing to do, but sometimes it was necessary. He would see to it that a team was sent back to retrieve Sergeant Marks' body as soon as possible.

"Colonel…" Lorne began.

"There's nothing you can do Lorne," Sheppard said in a quiet voice and Lorne nodded, looking up at Sheppard with pained eyes. They stood like that for several minutes that seemed to stretch on forever, blocking out everything around them. It was only when the medical team arrived that they moved.

"We'll debrief in one hour," Sheppard said clearing his throat, "Get to the infirmary and get checked out."

"Yes sir," Lorne said, turning and heading out of the 'gate room after the medical team.

Sheppard watched them as they walked away. He didn't like what he saw in Lorne's eyes. He recognised it from the times over the years he'd seen it reflected back at him in the mirror. The man was blaming himself. It wasn't unusual, but he was still concerned. There was a part of him that wanted to follow Lorne and keep an eye on him, but he forced himself to turn and head in the opposite direction.

He spoke briefly to Woolsey, but as soon as he left his office Sheppard found himself on his way down to the infirmary without a second thought. He could hear Lorne as soon as he stepped through the door and followed the sound of his voice to the right bed.

"It's a scratch doc!" Lorne insisted, "I'm fine."

"Major, I'm not worried about your injury," Keller said gently, "But I really think it would be better if you stayed here, where we can keep an eye on you."

"Doc," Sheppard interrupted, "Is there a problem?"

"No, I'm fine," Lorne answered forcefully. Sheppard studied him, trying to judge the validity of that statement. He still looked a little dishevelled, the cut on his face was clean and stitched, but even Sheppard could see the pain and guilt in his eyes.

"Ok," Sheppard nodded. Lorne didn't want to talk about it and he was fine with that. He hated talking about anything like that, which probably explained the slightly uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Major!" Keller protested.

"How's everyone else?" Sheppard enquired before she could badger Lorne any further. The younger man gave him a grateful look.

"Steven and Parrish were understandably shaken," Keller reported, "But they should be fine when they calm down. Kagan has a severe concussion, we'll be keeping him for a while. Dax too. She's suffering from acute stress reaction..."

"In English," Sheppard huffed irritably.

"Psychological shock," Keller said, "It's a response to terrifying events. Not uncommon, but surprising here. She should snap out of it in a few hours, hopefully. The major is also showing certain signs of it."

"I told you, I'm fine," Lorne repeated, slipping down from the bed he was sitting on, "And I'm leaving."

"Ok, let's go," Sheppard agreed, following Lorne out of the infirmary despite Keller's protests.

They walked in silence to the locker room to store Lorne's gear, then on the the control room. At the top of the 'gate room steps Sheppard headed for their office, earning him a confused look from Lorne.

"Aren't we going to the conference room?" he asked.

"No point, with everyone else stuck in the infirmary it's just us," Sheppard shrugged.

"Woolsey?"

"Woolsey is a little busy dealing with some representative of the Coalition," Sheppard lied. He'd managed to convince Woolsey to let him deal with the mission debriefing on his own. The last thing Lorne needed right now was that pencil-pushing bureaucrat making him relive every moment and second-guess every decision. It was obvious that he felt bad enough already.

"You're stuck with me," he smiled faintly as they stepped into the office, "So run me through it."

The faint smile that had been on Lorne's lips vanished and he sighed heavily as he practically fell into his chair.

"Alright," Lorne said dully shifting in his seat, "We arrived on M4X-332, I left Marks and Kagan to guard the 'gate, sent Coughlin to the settlement and went to walk the perimeter while Parrish, Stevens and Dax collected their samples. We were there for maybe an hour, I checked in with Stevens, then headed round to Dax and Parrish and while I was with Dax we heard the Darts come through the 'gate. We headed for the 'gate as soon as we heard the Darts, and got there in time to see another coming through. Kagan was on the floor by the 'gate..."

Sheppard sat patiently across the desk, waiting for Lorne to continue. Looking at the haggard expression on his face, so different from the carefree look he'd had when he left the city less than two hours ago, Sheppard wanted nothing more than to tell Lorne to forget it, maybe grab that beer he'd offered him and call it a night. He really didn't want to be the one forcing him to relive the loss of one of his team. But better it be him that someone else, someone like Woolsey. He gave Lorne what he hoped was a reassuring and encouraging look, nodding slightly for him to continue.

"I knew I had to find Parrish and Stevens, but Dax was in no state to go anywhere so..."

"What happened?"

"Not cut out for going off-world after all I guess," Lorne shrugged, "Too scared to even hold a gun without her hand shaking, so I left her where she was. She had cover and the 9mil I gave her. I thought she'd be a liability to take with me so..."

Sheppard nodded absently. Now wasn't the time to comment on how disappointed certain people were going to be that Dax hadn't lived up to expectations. Or to contemplate how impossibly smug McKay would be when he heard the news.

"I circled around behind the 'gate and was able to locate Dr Stevens fairly quickly," Lorne continued, "But there was no sign of Parrish. That was about the point that Coughlin arrived and we heard gunshots. There were four of the warrior Wraith firing stunners towards where I'd left Dax, one of the male Wraith was down but still alive and Parrish was hiding under the DHD. Coughlin and I took out the Wraith, then I ordered him to check the Wraith were dead while I…retrieved Marks' tags…"

"Ok," Sheppard nodded, seeing how hard it was for Lorne to go over that part.

"It's not a very coherent account I know," Lorne said apologetically.

"The others can fill in the gaps when they hand in their reports," Sheppard assured him, "I just thought you might want to get this over and done with sooner rather than later."

"Doesn't really make that much difference," Lorne murmured, and Sheppard would have had to have been blind to miss the pain in Lorne's eyes.

"There was nothing you could have done Evan," Sheppard said softly.

"When does that ever make anyone feel better John?" Lorne asked in a voice that was almost too low to hear.

"Never," Sheppard conceded standing up and walking around the desk. He stopped at Lorne's side and hesitantly reached out and laid his hand on Lorne's shoulder. Lorne looked up at him in surprise. Sheppard himself was surprised. He had no idea why he was recently feeling such a compulsion to touch Lorne. In fact, he could admit in the privacy of mind, he was tempted to pull Lorne into a hug. That thought alone should have made him pull his hand away as if he was burned, instead it stayed exactly where it was, as if he no longer had the ability to control it. But Lorne wasn't looking freaked out and was showing no signs of bolting the way he had the last time something like this happened, so Sheppard hoped he might be able to regain mastery of the offending appendage before it earned him a punch in the jaw or something similar.

"Take the rest of the day off Lorne," Sheppard suggested.

"No, I have far too much paperwork to do," Lorne looked up at Sheppard and smiled slightly, "Most of it's yours."

"Look, I know I can't order you to stop beating yourself up about this, because that would be stupid," Sheppard told Lorne softly, "But Keller really didn't want to let you out of her sight, so…just…try not to get yourself hauled back to the infirmary, alright?"

"Alright," Lorne agreed in a strangely hushed voice.

Sheppard nodded, and finally managed to disengage his hand from its residence on Lorne's shoulder so he could go back to his side of the desk. He flicked on his laptop under the pretence of checking his emails, but actually he had no intention of leaving just yet. Just in case.

Lorne was only too willing to lose himself in the monotony of requisition orders after what was more conversation than debriefing. It was boring and repetitive and perfect for distracting him from things he preferred not to think about at that moment. Like the fact they hadn't been back in Pegasus that long, and Marks was the first person they'd lost since they'd returned. The fact that their first casualty was a member of his team did not sit well with him, especially when it had been such a simple mission. Surely it said something about his abilities that he managed to lose a teammate on a scientific survey mission? _Again_, a traitorous part of his mind whispered.

Because this wasn't the first time this had happened after all.

He took a slow shaky breath, trying to banish the recurring image of Ritter's horrific death. He glanced up to find Sheppard was still sitting on the opposite side of the desk, trying to look like he was working rather than surreptitiously watching his XO. Lorne's emotions were too much of a mess to even begin to decipher how he felt about Sheppard's presence. He probably should have been irritated that Sheppard thought he needed to be supervised, but that would have required more energy that he could summon at that moment, and since Sheppard wasn't trying to engage him in unnecessary conversation he just allowed himself to draw some measure of comfort from the other man's company. Not quite as much as he'd got from the simple touch of John's hand resting on his shoulder.

He had no idea what to make of that. It was completely unexpected, though far from unwelcome, and judging from the expression on Sheppard's face it had surprised him as much as it had Lorne. But he hadn't pulled away when he realised what he'd done, and that managed to cause a small curl of warmth in Lorne's chest, even if it was barely enough to make a difference to the bone-deep chill that had been with him since he laid eyes on Marks' body.

Lorne didn't pay much attention to the time as he worked his way through the stack of paperwork that always seemed to migrate over to his side of the desk, but he glance up every now and then to find that Sheppard was still there ostensibly working, his eyes always on his laptop. It was almost a surprise to glance up after what must have been several hours and find hazel eyes staring at him intently.

"I'm pretty sure it's time to eat," Sheppard mentioned.

"I'm really not hungry," Lorne told him, since there was still a rather large lead weight sitting in his stomach.

"But I bet you wouldn't say no to that beer I offered you," Sheppard surmised, and Lorne felt a hint of a smile curling his lips. If only John realised that he couldn't say no to _anything_ he asked.

"You're probably right," he agreed.

"Great, but we're picking up food first," Sheppard announced, pushing away from his desk, "A hangover isn't going to help you any."

A part of Lorne wanted to retort that he was a grown man and didn't need to be watched and coddled like a child. But the bigger part of him was enjoying the fact that John cared enough to want to look after him, even if it was just in the form of making sure he ate and offering him beer and company at the end of a very bad day. It was the most he was ever likely to get, so he'd take it. He stood up and followed John out of their office without a word.

In an unusual show of perception, Sheppard didn't even ask if he wanted to eat in the mess. Without saying a word he left Lorne standing outside while he went to collect food for them, allowing him to avoid being surrounded by people for which he was very grateful. As a general rule, Lorne preferred to deal with this kind of thing alone, he hated feeling like he was under observation. But spending time with Sheppard somehow combined to make him feel better and worse at the same time and he couldn't walk away from it if he tried.

Twenty minutes after finishing his meal in Sheppard's quarters, Lorne couldn't have said what he'd eaten. It had been put in front of him and he'd been instructed to eat, so he did. Mechanically and without tasting what he was eating, but sometimes that was for the best in Pegasus. Sheppard handed over the beer he'd promised without hesitation, and put on a movie that Lorne didn't bother to glance at as he applied himself to his drink. He was fairly certain John had only put it on to avoid sitting in uncomfortable silence.

He was on his third beer when he caught Sheppard watching him with what looked like concern.

"It's only beer John, it's not as if I'm drinking that paint-stripper Zelenka calls vodka," he assured him.

"Good thing too, the way you're going you'd be heading for liver failure by now," Sheppard said. Lorne sighed.

"I figured you for the last person that would try to make me talk about this John," he said slowly.

"I wasn't going to suggest that," Sheppard told him, but his obvious discomfort belied his statement.

"I should call it a night," Lorne decided, suddenly far too tired for any company at all.

"Lorne... Ev', do you have someone you can talk to about this?" Sheppard asked awkwardly as Lorne stood up.

"Not since Kate died," Lorne said heavily, alcohol and exhaustion making him more forthcoming than he would normally be.

"Kate Heightmeyer?" Sheppard asked in surprise and Lorne nodded as he headed for the door.

"Good night John. Thanks for the beer," he said softly.

"Evan," Sheppard's voice stopped him as he reached for the door control, "If you decide you need to talk about what happened..."

"You aren't offering are you?" Lorne asked, turning to stare incredulously at his CO.

"You don't need to sound so surprised," Sheppard muttered darkly.

"Given how much you hate conversations like that I'm surprised the universe didn't implode," Lorne managed to smile, "But thanks."

Sheppard nodded, but didn't say anything else when Lorne turned and left. He walked slowly back to his own quarters, contemplating whether he'd drunk enough to let him reach a dreamless sleep, or if he was going to be troubled by nightmares again. They always recurred when they lost someone, especially when it was someone Lorne felt he should have been able to save.

He stepped into his quarters and didn't bother to turn on the lights as he locked the door, stripped out of his uniform and fell into bed. He lay in the dark, staring up at the ceiling as sleep eluded him, his mind tumbling over images of Marks and Ritter and all the other people he felt like he'd failed to protect.


	5. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: _I think we all know I don't own Stargate Atlantis. Well, I own the DVDs, but that's it.

A/N: I'm very sorry to those of you who had to wait so long for this chapter. Summer does not agree with me, it makes me uninspired and lethargic, not a great combination. Thanks to all those who added alerts or reviewed, and wish me that stereotypical British summer (read: Rain) and maybe I'll be able to get another chapter done soon.

Chapter 4

The week following the disastrous mission to M4X-332 was an uncomfortable one in the city. Everyone was treading carefully, trying not to say or do anything that might lead back to the matter of the mission or the first lost life since they returned to Pegasus. It made for a particularly tense environment.

The day after Sheppard had spent several hours holed up alone in his office with the reports from the other team members that had been on the mission, piecing together what Lorne hadn't been able to tell him. Kagan's hadn't offered much insight since he'd practically knocked himself insensible diving out of the way of the first Dart that came through the 'gate. Likewise with Coughlin, who had been returning from the settlement and heard the radio chatter in time to take cover in the trees as the Wraith ships passed. It became clear though, from Dr Parrish's notes, that a group of Wraith had followed the Darts through on foot. They were responsible for the death of Sergeant Marks. He had drawn their attention away from the botanist, who was in the vicinity of the 'gate when it activated. Not that Parrish had got very far in his escape attempt. The Wraith had caught him and dragged him back, apparently in the hopes of obtaining his IDC. It was when the Wraith had looked like he was going to feed on Parrish that Dax had shot at it. Which had actually done more to piss it off than damage it, but it offered Parrish the opportunity to get away, and drew the attention of Lorne and Coughlin.

Woolsey had spent half an hour bemoaning the fact that the Wraith were once again trying to get into the city, probably to get the location of Earth, but Sheppard wasn't that surprised. What did he expect? The Wraith were fractured and fighting amongst themselves even before the super-powered hive had somehow acquired the location of Earth. Did Woolsey really think that holding Todd hostage in the city while it was stuck on Earth for months was going to help the situation? Sheppard wouldn't be surprised if Todd's alliance of Hives had shattered without him and he would have been more surprised if Todd had managed to regain his former power in the short time since his 'mysterious escape' from the city.

And in all honesty, Sheppard was more concerned about Lorne.

Dr Keller had cleared him for duty again after two days, but Sheppard privately thought that might have been premature. He'd found himself unconsciously watching Lorne, and whatever act the Major had used to convince Keller he was back to normal, he either didn't feel the need to continue it in front of John, or she was just very easy to deceive. Sheppard could tell in a single glance that Lorne was not back on form. There were dark circles under his unusually dull eyes, mute testament to the fact he was still having trouble sleeping, and most of the fleeting smiles to grace his features looked forced.

Sheppard sort of wished that Carson wasn't still out on his humanitarian efforts, because he was sure that the Scottish doctor wouldn't have been so easily fooled. Not that Keller wasn't a good doctor, Sheppard had been patched up by her enough times to know she was competent, but Beckett was better at holding his ground against the more stubborn members of the city. And John counted himself among them, so he should know.

He also knew that more down-time was probably the last thing Lorne wanted. Sheppard had a feeling that like most of the people in the city, Lorne would prefer to keep busy than sit around dwelling on things he couldn't change. But Sheppard couldn't help but wonder if that was what was really best for him. He'd hardly recognised the man who sat across the desk from him a week after the mission as they went through the process of choosing a replacement for Sergeant Marks, and it made worry churn in his stomach. When they finally settled on Sergeant Williams, after an hour, Sheppard had dragged Lorne to the mess because he wasn't certain the man wouldn't remember to eat otherwise. He felt like he was doing this a lot recently.

A few days later found Sheppard sitting alone at his team's table with his breakfast untouched in front of him, his mind lost in replaying the previous night's conversation with his XO, occasionally pausing to glance around the room. It had started out simply enough, John had just wanted to tell Lorne that his team were going to be going to New Athos with a group of Marines that had recently rotated in from the _Daedalus_, and had been on the security detail for the last few weeks. Yet somehow they'd ended up back in John's quarters watching a movie and drinking beers.

It wasn't so much that he objected to that, he'd come to find Evan's company very enjoyable, and since he'd taken it upon himself to keep an eye on the other man it made the task easier. The problem with socialising as opposed to surreptitiously watching from a distance (and it wasn't stalking if it was motivated by honest concern, no matter how much it might feel like it) was that it lead to Sheppard talking. Or in this case, blurting out stupid questions that he hadn't been able to get out of his head for over a week.

That parting comment, about Kate Heightmeyer, from the night after the mission had been ringing in his head like someone put it on repeat on his iPod. He couldn't get it out of his head and he couldn't think of a good reason why. Except that it had come as such a surprise. He'd never seen anything to indicate that there was a relationship between the two, but then he hadn't been looking, and even if he had been it's possible he would have missed it anyway. He was painfully slow on the uptake when people were coming on to _him_, so the chances were he'd miss it when it wasn't directed at him, unless it was particularly obvious. There was also the fact that they'd been in the city together for over four years and he'd never even heard a hint of a rumour of Lorne sleeping with anyone, in the city or off-world. He did consider that it was highly inappropriate to have such an interest in his XO's sex life and he should definitely put a halt to the inappropriate line of thought. And he fully intended to, until a lull in conversation had him blurting out:

"So how long were you seeing Kate for?"

Lorne had frowned at him in such a way that he was forcefully struck by the idea that he might have finally found the line. And crossed it.

"That's a bit of a personal question," Lorne had said, his voice cold enough to lower the temperature in the room several degrees, and Sheppard had actually winced. He should have known better than to bring the subject up, especially as the thing that had killed Kate had been wearing his face at the time. And it had terrorised Lorne too.

"Sorry," he'd stammered, "I didn't mean... I just... It was a surprise, I didn't know..."

"You thought the civilians were the only ones who had things they needed to talk about?" Lorne had asked bitterly, "Sorry to ruin your impression of me."

John had just gaped at him. Full-on stared at him in open-mouthed bafflement for at least a minute. Because that was the last thing he'd expected. It hadn't occurred to him once in all the time he'd been puzzling over it (and it was far more time than he was willing to admit to) not once had he thought that Lorne had been seeing her _professionally_.

He'd managed to get out some half-formed apology that he wasn't sure was English, let alone coherent, though he avoided digging himself any deeper by mentioning the nature of his mistake. Lorne had clearly found him amusing if nothing else, given the faint, genuine smile he'd given Sheppard as he waved off the awkward attempt.

The conversation had been replaying in his mind almost constantly, and Sheppard wasn't entirely sure why. He had a feeling there was something he was missing and every time he attempted to puzzle out what it might be he always ended up back in the same place, reliving that awkward and strange conversation.

"Are you well John?" Teyla's voice jerked him out of his musings as she joined him at the table, "You seem tired."

"Haven't been sleeping well recently," he murmured and it was only half a lie.

"I see," Teyla nodded solemnly, "Perhaps you should speak to Dr Keller? I'm sure she would be able to help you."

"I'm fine," he assured her with a smile, staring back down at his untouched food. He didn't know why he'd even picked it up. He wasn't really hungry and the strange feeling in the pit of his stomach made him wonder if eating was the best idea anyway.

"Morning," McKay grunted as he sat down, with Ronon close behind. John nodded in acknowledgement and Teyla offered her own polite greetings. McKay applied himself to his mountain of waffles and coffee for several minutes before he even bothered to look up at his team mates. A faintly indulgent smile twisted Sheppard's lips; one of the rare instances that Rodney was quiet was when he was eating. It wasn't something you took for granted after you'd known him a while.

"What?" the physicist demanded when he realised he was under scrutiny, "I like waffles!"

"We are all aware Rodney," Teyla informed him with exaggerated patience.

"I thought you were planning to cut down?" Keller asked as she put her own tray down.

"Did I say that?" McKay asked innocently, looking up at her.

"Yes," the doctor replied absently, not looking at any of them but staring across the mess hall. McKay followed the direction of her gaze and scowled.

"Something wrong doc?"Sheppard asked, since he couldn't see what had captured her interest from his vantage point.

"She's worried that Jackson's pet is having a mental breakdown," McKay huffed as he continued to shovel food into his mouth. Sheppard would have grimaced at the sight but he was fairly well desensitised to it after five years.

"You're supposed to eat it Rodney, not inhale it," he admonished. Desensitised didn't mean he couldn't comment on it after all.

"And could you please stop putting words in my mouth?" Keller requested as she finally sat down, "I never said anything about a mental breakdown."

"You didn't have to," McKay shrugged indifferently, "She's been walking around like a miniature zombie since they came back from 332. It's obvious."

"When did you get a medical degree?" Keller asked.

"Please, you're talking about psychology, which is about as close to a science as Zelenka is to winning a Nobel Prize," McKay scoffed derisively, "It's even less of a science than medicine."

Sheppard might not have been the smartest guy in the universe when it came to relationships, but he wasn't stupid enough to think that it was a good idea to start insulting your girlfriend's chosen profession right in front of her. This was just further evidence that the rules that existed in the rest of the universe didn't apply in Atlantis. He was pretty sure that in a normal situation like this, on Earth, that kind of remark would have earned McKay a slap in the least, if not a very humiliating and public break-up. But then, if the normal rules of the universe had been in effect, McKay wouldn't have been dating someone like Keller in the first place.

"I'll remember that the next time you think you're coming down with some rare, potentially fatal illness," Keller said after a moment's pause, "I won't even bother to humour you."

McKay muttered darkly and incomprehensibly under his breath before going back to his breakfast. Keller ignored him, but kept casting concerned looks in what was obviously the direction of whatever out-of-the-way corner Dax had hidden herself in. When she happened to turn back to their table Sheppard looked at her expectantly. Keller sighed.

"I think she'd still suffering from Acute Stress Reaction," she confessed softly.

"I thought you said that normally passed in a few days," Sheppard said, only remembering because it had been mentioned in relation to his second.

"It does," Keller nodded, "Normally it passes in a few hours, but it has been known to last for a month."

"A month?" Sheppard repeated.

"From what I've seen of her, Dax doesn't seem to be snapping out of it," Keller remarked, "She's still withdrawn and disassociative. She isn't talking to anyone, I hear she spends most of her time hiding out in the labs and I know she isn't eating. I thought she was getting better until a few days ago..."

"Woolsey called her into his office a few days ago," Sheppard offered indifferently.

It wasn't that he didn't care. Alright, it was only of passing interest to him that the young redhead was still suffering some kind of mental trauma from her one and only trip off-world. He was slightly irritated by the fact that Keller seemed to be stalking the girl to monitor her recovery when she'd barely bothered to _look_ at Lorne before she declared him fit for duty again. Because if she had looked she would have seen he wasn't fine, as much as he might tell people otherwise. Keller's willingness to believe that was probably because as military officers they were, to a certain extent, expected to cope better with this kind of thing than civilians. Though Sheppard knew it was mostly just that they hid it better that they _weren't _coping.

"I believe it was his intention to suggest Dr Davis join Major Lorne's group on their visit to New Athos," Teyla said, "He surmised it would be beneficial if she were to, I believe he used the phrase 'get back on the horse'?"

"It means you shouldn't wait to do something again because you had a bad experience," Sheppard explained, "When you fall off a horse you're supposed to get straight back on again so you don't have time to be afraid."

"I see," Teyla said, in that tone that suggested she was thinking 'You people have some very strange ideas'.

"What?" Sheppard asked defensively when he saw McKay watching him oddly.

"That wasn't something I expected to hear from you," McKay replied.

"We had horses growing up," Sheppard shrugged.

The statement was met with absent noises, and none of the usual derisive comments about families with money he'd come to expect, and then the conversation shifted again. Sheppard didn't pay much attention. He wasn't feeling particularly chatty and settled for just watching the others, occasionally interjecting with the odd teasing remark, mostly directed at McKay. He pointedly ignored the curious glances he was receiving from Teyla, until she left to find Kanaan. When Keller decided she absolutely _had _to go and interfere with Dax's moping Sheppard decided it was time to leave. It was starting to irritate him to a dangerous degree.

He made his way up to the control room several hours later, just before Lorne and his modified team was due to go through the 'gate. He tried to tell himself that he wasn't doing it because he was worrying about his XO, it was just coincidental that he had to pick something up from his office before he went to bother McKay in his lab. He wasn't worried about Lorne, not really. He still couldn't work out what he was feeling, and typically, he wasn't sure he wanted to look too closely.

He stood on the balcony in front of the conference room and watched as the group of Marines milled about the 'gate room below, checking their gear and weapons. Lorne was watching them from the foot of the steps, his posture rigid and his grip on his P-90 turning his knuckles white.

Sheppard was overwhelmed by the urge to order the trip called off, but he couldn't. Not without a damned good reason, and he wasn't about to tell Woolsey he wasn't sure Lorne was fit for duty again. That wasn't how it worked. He'd been cleared medically, and if Lorne said he was ready to get back to work, Sheppard had to let him, whether he knew it was a lie or not. It was one of those unspoken rules, you didn't go poking your nose in unless you were asked for help, and John had never had any problems following it. Until now.

The 'gate whirred to life and the group hastily arranged themselves into some semblance of order. Sheppard barely registered the movement, too busy watching the wave of apprehension that passed through Lorne, the clenching of his jaw and the brief almost pained expression on his face as he closed his eyes for a moment. It was gone within seconds as if it had never been, and Lorne stepped over to join Kagan and Coughlin as the wormhole flashed into life. The group was ordered through and one by one they vanished into the event horizon. Lorne was the last, and he stopped just before the puddle and looked around the 'gate room. His eyes landed on Sheppard and widened in surprise. Sheppard could feel his face heating slightly in embarrassment at being caught, and he sincerely hoped no-one noticed. Lorne smiled faintly and nodded before he turned and followed his team, and Sheppard was left staring at the 'gate for several minutes after it shut down, wondering what the hell was going on with him. He shook himself and headed off down to the gym. Hopefully sparring with Teyla would get him back to normal.

It didn't. He was slightly distracted, so he just ended up with bruises to go with his troubled mind. He spent a few hours annoying Rodney, until the scientist finally lost his temper and threw Sheppard out of his lab. After that he retreated to his office, pondering when exactly he'd gotten over his hatred of the room. Just before 2200 hours, when Lorne's team was scheduled to check in, he got up and headed across to the control room.

"Colonel," Chuck greeted him with a nod and Sheppard looked around in confusion.

"What are you still doing here Chuck?" he asked.

"I didn't have anything else to do so I thought I'd stay and run through a few diagnostics on the 'gate systems," the tech shrugged.

"You really are a workaholic," Sheppard remarked under his breath, earning him a curious look which he waved off as the 'gate began to light up. Chuck turned his attention to raising the 'gate's shield and tapping away at his laptop as the event horizon flashed into existence.

"I have Major Lorne on the radio sir," he reported after a moment or two.

"Thank you Chuck," Sheppard said as he turned towards the video-link screen. There was a MALP by the New Athos stargate, to allow for communication with the settlement. They had asked for a more permanent set-up, with two-way audio and visual, but Woolsey was unwilling to make a decision just yet, he just kept muttering about the IOA and expenses and John had to leave before he gave in to the urge to hit him. It was funny how that compulsion had returned so quickly after a year-long absence. Pushing that thought away he nearly sighed with relief when he saw Lorne on the screen. The younger man didn't look anywhere near his usual self, but he wasn't as tense as he had been when he left and Sheppard thought his eyes were a little less haunted, though that could have been wishful thinking.

"Evening Lorne," Sheppard said lightly, "Anything to report?"

"Not really," Lorne said smiling, "Just the standard meet-and-greet and off-world orientation. The rest of the team is back at the village celebrating. I warned them not to drink too much and keep an eye out for the 'ceremonial substances'. I needed the fresh air so I came for the check-in."

"As long as everything's ok," Sheppard said, wondering if he really sounded concerned or he was just imagining things.

"Fine," Lorne assured him, and it didn't sound like he was lying.

"Well, try not to let the newbies get too drunk, or roofied and seduced by alien women," Sheppard said, trying to inject the usual amount of levity into the remark.

"I'll do my best," Lorne smirked. They both knew that his best wouldn't be good enough, and Sheppard didn't really expect him to succeed. It was just friendly banter, and Sheppard almost felt like he had his equilibrium back for a moment.

"Go and keep an eye on your men Lorne," Sheppard ordered with a grin, "Try to keep your next check-in."

"0600 AST," Lorne confirmed, "I'll check in on time."

"Goodnight Lorne," Sheppard said softly, feeling a strange twinge in his stomach for some reason. Maybe he needed something to eat.

"Night," Lorne replied. The screen dissolved into static as the wormhole disengaged, and Sheppard turned to find Chuck regarding him speculatively. He raised his eyebrows in question and Chuck shook his head, hastily returning his attention to his computer. Frowning in puzzlement Sheppard left the control room, considering what he was going to do with himself once he'd eaten.

He ended up watching some movie that was playing in one of the communal rooms, mainly because he'd been wandering around listlessly, something he'd realised he was doing with increasing frequency and he didn't like it. None of his team were in the room, and he didn't recognise the movie, but it was better than wearing out his boots walking around the city for no other reason than he couldn't stop himself. So he slipped into the room and dropped into a chair and spent the next hour or more trying to work out why someone had thought that Patrick Stewart was a good choice to play a villainous mastermind.

It was late by the time he left the room, and his eyes felt like they were filled with sand after staring at the less-than-amazing quality movie for so long. In spite of that, Sheppard found that when he finally made it back to his quarters and fell into bed, for the third night in a row he couldn't sleep. He found that disconcerting, since he didn't normally suffer from insomnia, unless there was the threat of some galactic catastrophe hanging over them. And that very rarely had him feeling the way he did now.

Normally it was adrenalin and some weird sort of anticipation that kept him awake. Not that he enjoyed the threat of total destruction, or the sense of impending doom that came with, for example, an alien armada heading straight for them when they had little or no means of defence. But there was something thrilling about coming up with new and inventive ways to survive suicide missions and beating the odds with ridiculous long-shot ideas that should never have worked in a million years.

What was bothering him now, was an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, and now he took the time to really think about it, it had been with him all day. He'd dealt with it the same way he'd dealt with the strange turmoil in his thoughts over the last few weeks. He'd ignored it. Or at least he'd tried to. That approach didn't look like it was working anymore though.

Sighing, he tried to work out when this uneasy feeling had started, discovering it wasn't as simple as he'd thought. There'd been a vague feeling of disquiet hovering in the back of his mind for over a week, but he thought it had worsened since that morning, when Lorne and his team went off-world. He frowned. Surely he wasn't _that_ worried about Evan?

Ok, so Evan wasn't exactly back to his usual self after losing a member of his team, and John didn't think he should be back on duty yet, but there was no reason for him to lose sleep over it. Evan wasn't even on a mission, it was just a couple of days off-world with the Athosians to get the team back through the 'gate. But Sheppard realised that wasn't reassuring him. He was actually feeling an impulse to gear up and meet up with Lorne's team, which was ridiculous. There was no way they were in any trouble, they didn't need him to go rushing off to their rescue!

He was even more confused now, because he couldn't work out where this urge was coming from. He trusted Lorne implicitly. He'd pulled Sheppard and his team out of the fire more times than John could count. Evan would back him up in any situation, without question. He knew that in his soul, without needing to know how he knew it. He would never question Evan's competence, so there was no reason at all for him to think his presence was needed off-world. The fact was he _wanted_ to be there. It would be so much easier than sitting around worrying and wondering if Evan was ok.

Maybe it was just the fact that he missed Evan's company, he mused. They had been spending an increasing amount of time together since the city returned to Pegasus, part of his brain supplied. Well, why shouldn't he want to spend time with Lorne? he thought defensively, completely ignoring the fact that arguing with himself like this might not be a sign of mental stability. Lorne was a great officer, and certainly a better XO than Sheppard deserved, not to mention he was good company, easy to be around, had a good sense of humour, with those amazing blue eyes and he was incredibly attractive…

Sheppard sat bolt upright as that thought trampled through his mind. What the hell? He hadn't really just thought that had he? He shook his head and rolled out of bed, heading to the fridge to grab a beer from his rapidly dwindling supply. He popped the cap off and swallowed a good quarter of the bottle in one gulp as he sat back down heavily. He couldn't believe this.

It had been years since he'd been attracted to a guy. Ok, so that wasn't entirely true. There had been a few that caught his eye, but he never acted on it. Since he'd always known he wanted to be a pilot and the military had very specific ideas about people who were interested in members of the same sex, he'd spent a number of years learning to ignore it.

"Oh good job John," he congratulated himself bitterly, "You got so good at ignoring it, it took you months to realise you're in love with your XO."

He paused in the act of taking another swing of his beer, realising what he'd just said, even if there was no-one around to hear it. He was in _love_ with Evan? He sighed heavily and raked a hand through untidy hair. Of course he was. He'd noted and discarded the physical attraction early into Evan's assignment in the city, just as he'd conditioned himself to do. What he was feeling now had nothing to do with lust. He finished his beer and lay back on his bed, exhausted by the unfamiliar task of dealing with his emotions. One question kept running through his head as he finally drifted towards sleep; what the hell was he going to do now?

He woke the next morning without any answer to his question. His dreams had been singularly unhelpful in that respect. Though apparently admitting his…feelings... for Evan seemed to have triggered his subconscious into providing some very interesting and stimulating scenarios for him. All in all, it would probably have been better if he hadn't slept at all, at least then he would have a slim chance of being able to look Evan in the eye when he got back to the city. No chance of that now, with dream-images of the man writhing beneath him, moaning in pleasure permanently burned into his brain.

He got dressed and headed out for his run, music blaring in his ears, and the rational part of his brain reminding him of all the reasons he should push this revelation into a dark corner of his mind for the rest of time and never think of it again. Not least on the list of reasons being that acting on this could land him with a dishonourable discharge, if he was lucky, and in a cell if he wasn't. And even if by some miracle, he didn't get reported, there was no way the friendship he had with Lorne would survive the admission that his feelings were more than friendly. Straight guys very rarely reacted well to that, and he was certain Lorne was straight. Though to the best of his knowledge, Lorne had never been with anyone in the city, or off-world, and from what he'd heard that was supported by the gossip network.

The rational part of his mind snapped at him again, reminding him that there could be any number of perfectly good reasons for that, and he should just forget about it. Of course, if McKay had been privy to this mental turmoil, he would have pointed out that Sheppard paid as much attention to the rational, logical part of his brain as he did to Parrish's rambling monologues about cave moss.

As he wandered down to the mess hall after returning from his run and showering, he was still so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't notice half the people that offered him greetings, and the ones he did barely got a grunt in response.

It wasn't long after he sat down that it became clear the rest of his team wouldn't be joining him and he sighed morosely. He'd had a vague, fleeting notion of talking to one of them about his unexpected revelation. Most likely Teyla, because even if she was shocked by it she was far too polite to say anything, and he didn't think the Athosians were judgemental of that kind of thing. He even doubted that Rodney would act any differently towards him, except the jokes and comments it would surely elicit.

He doubted he would have actually gone through with it though. He couldn't have put up with the knowing looks or pointed remarks that would have been the inevitable result. There was one person he would have felt.. not exactly comfortable, but maybe less awkward, talking to if he'd been in the city. Carson would have been perfectly unfazed if John had shown up at his door saying he needed to talk about something personal, in complete confidence. Carson would also have had the good stuff, the whiskey that could knock you out and rot the unwanted memories right out of your brain. He would have been able to reassure John and tell him how to avoid further embarrassing himself with his behaviour around Lorne. And with that way the Scot had of seeing absolutely _everything_ he'd know if Sheppard had given himself away. Hell, he probably would have known weeks ago that Sheppard had fallen for his 2iC, and wasn't that a sobering thought?

Sheppard sighed heavily as he realised that he was very much on his own, literally and figuratively. And he was starting to understand that he was tired of being the only member of his team- which was as close as he really felt he had to a family- that didn't have someone. Not that that realisation made his course of action any clearer.

* * *

Dax stared down at the computer tablet in front of her, not taking in a word of it. She actually didn't have the slightest clue what the file was, or how long she'd been staring at it. Long enough for her tea to have gone cold, she winced as she absently sipped at the cold liquid and sighed. She briefly considered walking down to the mess for another, but dismissed it as being far too much effort and returned to her listless slouch. She stared into space for a while, not even hearing the footsteps as someone joined her in the room.

"Considering you haven't been here that long you certainly picked a good place to hide," Chuck's voice wasn't loud, but it was so surprising in the utter silence of the room that she jumped.

"I heard that no-one ever uses the reading library," she murmured. She'd taken to spending her time in there rather than the lab mainly because she was too easy to locate in the lab, and Keller always seemed to be hovering around recently. It was two weeks since Dax had been released from the infirmary and she thought the city's CMO would have better things to do than follow her around. So what if she was living on caffeine and zero sleep? So was the rest of the scientific community, she was hardly unique.

"Anything particular you're hiding from?" Chuck asked curiously as he sat down next to her.

"Keller, and y'know, humiliation, ridicule..."

"Not everyone's cut out for going off-world on a regular basis," Chuck told her, "I haven't been out of the city since we got back here. I prefer being around technology."

"That's better than having a panic attack the second things get nasty," Dax said morosely.

"The way I heard it you managed to shoot that Wraith," Chuck pointed out.

"Right," Dax scoffed, "One shot, that by some miracle actually managed to hit the Wraith, leaving it with a nasty scratch and nothing else. I only just managed to unfreeze in time, and then I threw up. Hardly my finest moment."

"It's not easy to shoot a living thing," the Canadian tech said slowly, "Even if it is something that's going to kill you. It's worse when it resembles a person. Anyway, I just came to give you this."

"What is it?" she asked, accepting the USB stick with a puzzled frown.

"Emails for you from the last two weeks' databursts from Earth," Chuck explained.

"If they've added 'postal worker' to your job description I'd ask for reassignment," the redhead suggested.

"Well normally they'd just be forwarded to you, but it would seem you've still not set up your account on the city's network," he replied with a faint grin, "I figured since they were all from the same person they might be important so I came to find you."

"I doubt they're vital," Dax said, "They're from a friend."

"You psychic now?"

"I don't have to be, he's the only one who bothers to keep in touch," she replied ruefully.

"What about your parents?" Chuck wanted to know.

"I doubt they even realised I'm gone."

"You've been here three weeks," Chuck pointed out.

"And three weeks before that I was on the _Daedalus_, and a week before that I flew to DC," she nodded, "I stand by my assessment."

"So this... friend of yours is the only one who misses you?" the tech demanded.

"'Misses' might be a strong word. He's been working in London the last year, on some secret government thing, so we don't see each other that much. But he will have noticed that I haven't been replying to his emails. I can only imagine what he'd say if he knew about how badly I screwed this up."

"Why do you say that?"

"He knows I'm not great around new people. He always told me 'fake it 'til you make it', y'know, don't let people see how uncomfortable, scared or freaked out you are until it's gone," Dax's lips twisted in a humourless smile.

"A sentiment you took to heart I assume," Chuck guessed.

"I doubt I would have spoken to anyone at uni without it," she sighed turning the datastick over in her hands, "I should read these. And write something back so he doesn't think I've dropped off the face of the Earth. Which, come to think of it, I sorta have."

"Set up your email," Chuck ordered as she stood up, "It'll only take you a minute."

"Ok," she agreed, pausing to frown back at him over her shoulder as she headed for the door, "If you were looking for me, how did you manage to find me when no-one else did?"

"You have to know the right person to ask," Chuck grinned. Feeling more baffled than before, Dax left.

**Atlantis. October 2009 **

Lorne was spending the morning in the lab with Zelenka. It was an unfortunate consequence of being a strong natural gene carrier that part of your schedule was dedicated to poking at unidentified Ancient gizmos and trying to turn them on, hoping that they wouldn't reduce you to a puddle of protoplasm while the scientists muttered to themselves. Lorne didn't mind that much though, it got him out of his office for a few hours, and he always tried to fit it in while Sheppard was off-world, so he didn't have to risk the wrath of McKay if something didn't work. It wasn't often that McKay wanted anyone other than Sheppard to play human lightswitch for him anyway, but why take the risk?

He wasn't really focused on what he was supposed to be doing; the device that Radek had handed him to turn on couldn't be found on the database, despite repeated searches. Needless to say, Lorne wasn't that keen on the idea of activating something that could have been anything from an Ancient liquid soap dispenser to a neutron bomb, but his distraction was mainly due to the fact his traitorous mind was focused on Sheppard.

He should probably have been disgusted at himself for the amount of time he spent thinking about that particular subject, but this was different. Sheppard had been acting strangely over the last month or so. Lorne wasn't about to object to the increased amount of time the man spent with him, even if most of the time he was in their office he was playing computer games rather than doing anything productive. But the fact he was in their office at all was causing Lorne no small amount of concern. He was sure that if he were to calculate it, John Sheppard had spent more time in their office since they returned to Pegasus than in the two years prior to their departure. That was alarming by any standard of measure.

Then there were the looks. For the first week or so, Lorne had shrugged it off as him being paranoid. But now there was no doubt about it. He frequently looked up from what he was doing to find Sheppard staring at him. He always looked away as soon as he was caught, and the last few days Lorne could have sworn he saw traces of a blush on Sheppard's neck as he ducked his head sheepishly. But that was ludicrous. He just wished he could work out why Sheppard was staring at him. His subconscious was getting ideas and after some of the fantasies he'd had it was hard to look Sheppard in the eye without blushing himself.

He was used to blocking out most of the radio chatter that came over the headset by now, but occasionally things caught his attention.

-_Dr Davis, this is Mr Woolsey, come in please?_-

-_This is Dax_-

-_Can you come to the control room, please? Colonel Sheppard's team requires your assistance_-

-_Um, ok. I'm on my way_-

"Gotta go doc," Lorne told Zelenka hastily. The scientist looked completely baffled by his sudden departure, but Lorne was more concerned with what kind of trouble Sheppard could have gotten into. He stepped into a transporter and practically ran into the young redhead in the hallway that led to the control room. She was shrugging into her uniform jacket as she walked and she paled when she saw him.

"Major Lorne," she said quietly when he fell in beside her.

"Dax," he responded, barely suppressing a sigh. It had been weeks since the mission to 332 but she was still jumpy around him and refused to meet his eye most of the time. She still occasionally showed up to the training sessions with his team, but he suspected it was when Kagan goaded her into it and she stayed as far away from him as she could. Lorne was mostly back to normal by now, the nightmares had receded to no more than once a week and he was fairly certain he wasn't sleepwalking, but somehow seeing the way Dax acted around him made him feel worse again.

"I heard Woolsey call for you on the radio, so I thought I'd come along in case I was needed," he told her when it became apparent she wasn't going to fill the uncomfortable silence, "It's a habit. After four years if I hear Sheppard's name and the words 'requires assistance' on the radio I automatically head for the control room."

"Understandable," Dax murmured, "I doubt they're in life-threatening danger though, if Woolsey's sending for me."

"Ah, Dr Davis there you are," Mr Woolsey said as they met him on the control room balcony, "Major."

"Sir," Lorne nodded as Dax stood silently beside him, looking less like a genius scientist and more like an errant student waiting for the Principal to pass judgement.

"It seems that the Colonel's mission to M7R-916 has located an Ancient outpost. The files Dr McKay has managed to access suggest that the work undertaken there was used to provide the Ancients' military operatives with some kind of tactical advantage. Needless to say if this is true it could represent a very important development in aiding our own endeavours," Woolsey said.

"Alright," Lorne's eye-roll at the longwinded explanation went unnoticed as Woolsey continued to talk.

"Colonel Sheppard requested a geneticists because it appears that the outpost is some kind of genetics lab," he explained, "I would like you to go and see what you can decipher from the files before he allows Dr McKay to activate the device. It seems they may have finally learned caution."

"That'll be the day," Lorne muttered under his breath. Caution was not a word associated with John Sheppard, and if you offered McKay the chance to uncover something scientifically significant that he could take credit for you may as well take the word out of the dictionary all together.

"Me, sir?," Dax asked, suddenly paler than she had been when she first saw Lorne, "Isn't there anyone else...?"

"I was given to understand that you've had a number of papers published on the matter of genetics," Woolsey remarked coolly.

"Yes..." Dax nodded reluctantly.

"And it was your earliest field of study was it not? The one you have been involved in the longest?"

"Yes, but..." Dax swallowed hard, looking like she was fighting nausea, "There must be other people in the city who know genetics..."

"Mostly the medical staff and in this instance I don't see that it's worth bothering them," Woolsey said firmly, "Major, you will accompany Dr Davis. Take one of the Puddle Jumpers."

"Yes sir," Lorne agreed blandly. Woolsey scowled slightly and headed back to his office, leaving Dax staring after him looking panicked.

"Anything you need?" he asked mildly as the redhead verged on hyperventilating, "Laptop? Reference materials? Valium?"

The young scientist barely seemed to hear him and he clamped down on his rising frustration. He was normally fairly tolerant of the scientists and their various neuroses, but he would have much preferred it if Dax could have her freak-out about going off-world again when it wasn't John and his team that needed her help. It would be so much easier to go and request one of the medical staff with the required knowledge, but Woolsey had spoken and Lorne would play the good little soldier and do as he was told. That didn't mean he had to like it, or have any faith that Woolsey's ridiculously transparent plan would work.

It only took him a few minutes to usher the anxious scientist up to the Jumper Bay, foregoing a trip to collect his vest or a weapon beyond the 9mil in the holster at his thigh, not wanting to risk her bolting while he wasn't looking. Lorne closed the rear hatch on Jumper 4 as Dax took her seat and he chose to ignore the fact he could see her trembling. He slid into the pilot's seat and brought the ship to life with a touch, the familiar buzz of the Jumper's interface seeping into his skin and mind like a comforting warmth, relaxing him.

-_Jumper 4, you have a go_- Woolsey's voice came over the radio as he manoeuvred the ship over the hatch to the 'gate room.

"Yes sir," Lorne responded as he took them through the 'gate.

The world they emerged on, designated M7R-916, was in the middle of a very pleasant day. The 'gate was located in a broad meadow on a low plain. Lorne looked around through the viewport as they flew slowly over the stretch of ground, and couldn't see any signs of habitation, recent or otherwise. The HUD flickered into existence at his thought and it displayed a view of the topography of the area beneath them, then focused on an energy signature coming from a nearby mountain range.

"Colonel Sheppard this is Lorne, come in," Lorne called over the radio as he altered their heading.

-_Lorne?_- the response came after a moment, and was Lorne just imagining that odd note in Sheppard's voice?

"Yes sir," he replied, "Woolsey asked me to accompany Dax."

-_What's your location?_- Sheppard asked after a slight pause.

"We just came through the 'gate," Lorne reported, "Our ETA is 3 minutes."

-_3 minutes?_- Sheppard repeated.

"We brought a Jumper," Lorne explained.

-_Really? Now why didn't _we_ think of that?_- Sheppard said loudly, clearly talking to one of his team rather than Lorne.

-_Well how was I supposed to know the source of the energy signal would be so far from the 'gate and halfway up a mountain?_- McKay's voice echoed over the radio, making Lorne laugh.

He flew them to the mountain in question, which had a convenient ledge in front of the cave the energy signature was coming from. It was large enough to accommodate more than one Puddle Jumper. Lorne noted that the cave wasn't even close to being halfway up the mountain, which wasn't anywhere near the size of some of its companions. He judged, after examining the wide, smooth track up the mountain before they landed, that the walk up to the cave couldn't take more than half an hour. He landed the ship and they headed out, studying their surroundings as he waited for the rear hatch to close.

"Something wrong?" Dax asked hesitantly, looking around nervously.

"I'm not sure," he replied slowly, looking over the area with the eyes of an artist and a trained military mind, "Does this scream 'Ancient-secret-military-outpost' to you? This ledge was obviously created, as was that path, and the entrance over there was extended from its original proportions. It's all too smooth, too regular."

"Oh," Dax said quietly.

"It doesn't matter right now," Lorne shrugged, his mind on more pressing issues, like what trouble team Sheppard might have found for themselves, "Let's go in, the Colonel and his team will be waiting for us."

Dax looked increasingly uneasy as they walked into the cave, despite the glow of lights which were soft and comforting, not bright and harsh like Lorne would have expected. The walls were heavily decorated. That was a little odd, he admitted as he looked around at the patterns and carvings. There were Ancient writings carved into the walls as well. The Ancient outposts were normally more functional.

The main chamber was, quite honestly, beautiful. There was a large console on a platform in the centre of the room and it glowed faintly with a soft blue light. There were faint lights dotted around the cavern and crystals embedded in the ceiling and walls reflected and shone in the many hued lights. Even the screens on the back wall behind the pedestal were surrounded by decorative frames. They hung above the control terminal and information scrolled over them much slower than on Atlantis. There were even statues in niches in the walls, and more carvings.

McKay was tapping away furiously at a tablet hooked up to the control console. Teyla and Ronon were seated on the floor to one side, leaning against the wall. Sheppard was pacing around looking bored. He looked up at them and smiled brightly when he heard them approach. None of them seemed as interested in the disparity between the appearance of the place and its supposed purpose so Lorne shrugged it off.

"Lorne," Sheppard greeted him happily before continuing with a polite nod, "Dax."

"Sheppard," Lorne couldn't help smiling back, it was firmly ingrained in him by now. John smiled and he returned it without conscious thought.

"Colonel," Dax mumbled, looking incredibly nervous and uncomfortable.

"So Woolsey sent you for this? Ok, think you can take a look at this thing?" Sheppard asked Dax with a gesture, "McKay wants to just turn it on, but after the last time he had a run-in with a machine that alters DNA I thought we should have someone check it out first."

"Caution John? Really?" Lorne smirked, not even realising he'd just used his CO's first name when he really shouldn't have. But given the expression on Sheppard's face, he didn't really mind so much. That was different.

"This is why you shouldn't have let Woolsey pick someone to send," McKay remarked scathingly from the control terminal, "You end up with someone who got a PhD for digging up stone arrowheads."

"And someone who has a knowledge of DNA sequencing?" Dax muttered darkly stepping up beside him next to the console.

"Sheppard, I'm telling you…"

"Rodney just shut up and let Dax take a look!" Sheppard snapped before coming to lean against the pedestal beside Lorne. The Canadian scientist scowled up at him then back at Dax, who wasn't even looking at him. Sheppard glanced at Lorne and offered him a grin.

"Fine!" McKay exclaimed, "Let's waste more time!"

"Just play nice and we'll try to be done before dinner," Sheppard said. McKay glared and grudgingly handed over the tablet he was using to control the device. Dax accepted it and began examining it.

"Dax?" Sheppard inquired softly as they watched the two scientists, "Who's brilliant idea was that?"

"Woolsey's," Lorne replied, knowing he was only confirming Sheppard's suspicions. His CO shook his head and Lorne rolled his eyes in silent agreement. They'd become very good at non-verbal communication he mused.

"So what does this place do?" Lorne asked.

"Could be anything," Sheppard replied, "Rodney says it was used for military application, but it could be a waffle factory and he'd say that if he thought he could make us stick around for his benefit."

Lorne chuckled, mostly because it was true, and leant heavily against the pedestal as McKay and Dax muttered back and forth over the data they were looking at. It would appear that the redhead's nervous unease at being off-world didn't completely alter her interactions with McKay.

"Experimental research…genetic manipulation…military application…resounding success…increased effectiveness in military units…" fragments of conversation drifted over to Sheppard and Lorne.

"There!" McKay announced triumphantly, "Just what I said. This device increased the efficiency of the Ancient military units, and it says it was effective."

"And what about the 'unforeseen complication' it mentions?" Dax asked turning to face him, hands on hips.

"Well that could be anything," McKay shrugged dismissively.

"That's sort of my point!" Dax retorted, earning her another glare from McKay.

"Colonel," she said stepping up to join them on the platform beside the pedestal. She stayed some distance away from the plinth, and her subdued demeanour returned as she looked over it at Lorne and Sheppard.

"What?" Sheppard asked.

"I think that we download the data from the device and take it back to Atlantis so the device's function can be properly analysed, and the complications it mentions," she said hesitantly.

"Oh please!" McKay scoffed.

"The device alters DNA in some way, I really think it would be prudent to find out as much as possible about how it does that before we even consider activating it," Dax clarified.

"She's right McKay," Sheppard said after some consideration and silently consulting with Lorne. Anything he'd intended to add after that was cut off by a blinding flash of light that came from the console they were standing around. Lorne squinted through the intensity of the glow, one hand going automatically for a weapon while the other attempted to shield his eyes from the ever-increasing illumination. Then everything went black.


End file.
